Lightning Knight
by RandomA99
Summary: Koto Futo sat inside a police interrogation room, alone and scared. He didn't know why he was there and he didn't know where mom or dad were. Where were they? The last thing he remembered was looking for his friend before the pain came and took everything. The pain flared inside his chest at its mention. No, he thought, I won't let it out again.
1. Unfortunate Beginnings

The Tragic Hero: Lightning Knight

Chapter 1: Unfortunate Beginnings

* * *

The world is filled to the brim with amazing wonders and puzzling questions alike, but very few things often exist in both of those categories. One such event was the creation of superhuman abilities that came to be known as quirks and the following chaos and hope that spawned from their use.

With the initial introduction to quirks, people used them greedily to satisfy their own desires at the expense of others. These people became known as Villains. To protect others from these Villains, far more people rose to stand against them with their own quirks. These people became known as Heroes.

After the chaos of quirks settled, the foundation for modern-day heroics was established, those who wished to become heroes would attend schools specializing in the training of heroes and upon graduation would receive an official hero license. Based on the type of hero-work they completed and varying aspects of the situation, these heroes would be paid for their efforts. Those that wished to continue with peaceful lives would follow their path as they normally would and would be protected by the heroes they idolized.

Quirks developed around the age of 4 and were almost always a copy or merge of the parents' quirks with a mutation of the quirks also being possible. However, on rare occasions a child would either receive a quirk with no similarities to their parents' quirk or would receive no quirk at all. These people became labeled as quirkless and lead empty lives when compared to those around them.

One such boy was Po Futo, as early as the age of 3, the boy was identified as quirkless and was left feeling empty throughout most of his childhood. All the people in his life treated him as a sort of nuisance and often abused him for his uselessness. From this abuse, the boy developed numerous mental issues, the most notable issue being the creation of numerous personalities to serve as friends and people who cared for him. The boy's depressing life continued until age 15 where he was on the verge of committing suicide when life decided to give him a break after these long hard years.

* * *

Po sat in his empty room, as he stared at the pistol he held in right hand. In his right, useless hand. Po lifted his the pistol to the side of his head, tears streaming down his face. _I'm useless, _he thought to himself, _I don't have any purpose and even my existence puts a burden on everyone I'm around. Why should I continue to make them suffer from my weakness._ _I don't want to live like this. I don't want to live at all!_ Rational thought abandoned Po as he began to slowly pull the trigger, coming within mere millimeters of ending his life before lessening his hold and dropping the gun to the ground.

Terrified, Po ran from his room with the gun now facing away from both him and the door. Exiting from the dreary place he called home, he ran to the nearby park, hoping that watching the people passing by would make him forget his insecurities. Watching the beautiful scenery and all the people that passed him, he began to wonder what amazing quirk each person had, bringing his thoughts back to the gun laying on the floor of his room.

"I can't do it! I'm useless and a total coward!" Shouted Po, startling many of the people walking by the troubled boy.

Of the ten people that heard and saw the distress the boy was in, only one approached him, a beautiful girl from Po's neighboring school. She casually walked over to the boy, sat down, and looked off at the scenery, just as the boy had, before she began to speak.

"No one is useless," she stated plainly, "Only the people who think themselves worthless are useless, and even then, they hold great significance."

The boy looked at the girl, who was still staring off at the slowly setting sun, before meekly replying, "How can someone without a quirk be of use to anyone. All they do is drag the people around them down with them."

"People always think that without a quirk, a person has no purpose," the girl stated, "Why you think this is true, I'll never know, but what I do know is long before quirks even existed, people got through their lives fine and ended them happily. No one is useless because of something they lack."

Po, unconvinced, became frustrated with the girl, "Why do you think that?"

"Well it's true, every person has a purpose, and every person matters."

Po became enraged with the thought that he was going to drag this girl down with his useless self. This kind girl had calmly approached him and told him that he had purpose when he desperately believed was a bundle of nothing.

"How the hell would you know! You don't know who I am! You don't know what's wrong with me! Po was now screaming at the girl who only watched him as he continued with his outburst. "You don't know how little I matter or how pathetic I am! I -" Po abruptly stopped, disgusted that he was taking his rage out on some girl who has only talked to him calmly. Po no longer wanted to be at the park, his eyes darting away from the girl as he began looking for the fastest way out. Po was about to take off running, before the girl stood up and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Listen to me, okay?" The girl said in a reassuring manner, "No matter what you may think about yourself, know that every person has things they hate about themselves, but those people still have purpose." Po desperately denied the thought that he mattered before being cut off by the girl. "Look at me." She said commandingly, Po finally looked at the girl in her sea blue eyes, slowly calming down from his panicked state, finally realizing that the girl was beautiful. She was small when compared to Po but she looked to have a fierce aspect of her that made her seem much more endearing. She had tan skin, slender arms, and long legs that gave her a commanding presence but her calm sea blue eyes and shining white hair gave off a much greater sense of calm.

"You have purpose."

She let go of Po and began to walk away from the astonished boy, more than glad that the boy now seemed to be rethinking his previous beliefs.

"Wait!" Po called to the girl, "I want to see you again."

The girl stopped before turning around and telling the boy, "My name is Kata."

* * *

Following their first encounter, the two began to see each other nearly five times a week. Po was excited to finally be around someone who believed in him and quickly latched onto her, following her wherever she went when they were together, refusing to leave her side for even a second, with some exceptions (you can't exactly follow a girl into the bathroom now can you?). It wasn't long before he realized he truly loved her and everything she was. These feelings were returned as Kata also began to feel for Po as he wasn't exactly the ugliest person in the world. He was far from it as he was a tall and lean person who both appeared frail but very strong with a very well defined face and eyes that shook Kata with pure content from how cute they were! She was a little offset by Po's multiple personalities but over time, he became himself, and only himself, calmed by Kata's love. Po also came to learn of Kata's quirk, **Shock**. It was a basic electric based quirk that let Kata give off small shocks of electricity. Po was initially incredibly jealous of Kata for having a quirk but he eventually overcame his jealousy and happily stood be her side throughout their middle and high-school years.

After they both graduated and got jobs, they married and lived with one another in a perfect marriage for two years before finally deciding to welcome another to their family.

Koto Futo was born on May 30th, 20XX to Kata and Po Futo and was named after his mother, living a happy three years with his loving parents. He was tall for his age and had a slight puff to his cheeks but still had a defined chin and jawline. He had pure white hair which was identical to his mother's own hair but it was always in a mess, with Koto putting little effort into taming it. His eyes were also a pure white which confused both parents as well as every doctor as neither of them had seen a person with pure white eyes before, even in a world of quirks. He made several friends and easily became infatuated with any and all heroes, his personal favorite being All Might. All Might was always so heroic and brave, saving people with an ever-present smile on his face. The boy quickly declared that with whatever quirk he got, he would be a hero, with a great desire to save others and a peaceful nature, Po was sure Koto would become a great hero and would encourage the child every step of the way.

They spent every waking moment they had available with the young boy, showering him with their love. Encouraging Koto when he did something amazing, like when he stopped a car to protect a small duck when it was crossing the road and disciplining him whenever he did something bad, like when he jumped in front of a car to protect a small duck when it was crossing the street. Normal parent stuff.

Koto often got into trouble trying to protect any animals he found in their small neighborhood, doing his absolute best to save each and every one of them, and when he failed, he was almost inconsolable. When Kata and Po took Koto to the lake for the first time in his life, they had to leave immediately as a small group of fishermen were angrily chasing after them Koto released every one of their fish back into the lake. Po gave Koto a stern lesson as he unraveled the fishing wire that Koto had gotten wrapped in before his parents rushed and escaped.

Kata and Po also didn't refrain from showing their love to Koto, laughing long into the night after kissing in front of Koto and seeing him blush to the point his face resembled a tomato.

The family shared many incredible moments with one another and lived happily.

* * *

Koto opened his eyes and he surrounded in a vast green meadow. Confused he stood up and began to search around the the unending land of gently swaying grass. _That's weird, I thought I went to sleep with Mommy and Daddy in their bed._ Koto continued to walk, seemingly for years on end to the young child before a voice called out to him.

Koto spun around only to see nothing more than the swaying grass and a newly sprouted tree, more than a mile high. He walked up to the giant looming tree, wondering with the curiosity and innocence of a child, _How did this get here?_ Inspecting the tree, Koto saw that besides how tall it was, it was a completely normal tree. Now looking around for any idea of how the tree suddenly appeared, Koto looked through the area, only to find nothing.

It wasn't until Koto placed his hand on the tree that events began to unfold.

A long crack appeared in the tree's bark and continued to spread slowly from where Koto had placed his hand. A black light poured from the crack as Koto quickly pulled his hand away, startled by the new appearance of the tree. As the crack continued to spread, the peaceful giant began to twist into an image of pure anger and ferocity. Terrified, Koto ran from the tree, only stopping when he his legs felt like jello. Looking back, the tree was nowhere in sight. Koto promptly forgot about his encounter with the demon tree and continued his walk through the never-ending meadow.

Koto continued on, spurred by his curiosity before coming to a small hill, the first one he had seen in this unending landscape. At the top of the hill was a circle of red matted grass about three meters in diameter. The presence of this strange circle was enough for Koto to wander into it and begin searching for anything.

He froze.

He stopped moving and sweat began to collect on the back of Koto's neck. Something was behind him, whether it was something of uncontrolled malicious intent or unending care and protection was unknown, all Koto knew was it was one of them. Slowly turning around to meet the owner of this terrifying dilemma, Koto was met with a skinny and anaemic looking man in what appeared to be a black skintight suit. He was hunched over and had scruffy white hair, just like Koto's. The strange man appeared unassuming and non-threatening, so Koto readily warmed up to him. No words were ever said between them but Koto still heard the man talk. It was a brief message but one that clearly held a great significance.

_I will protect you for as long as I am able._

* * *

Kata and Po were looking worriedly at their child between them. One moment, they were all sleeping peacefully, and the next he was panting heavily, covered in a cold sweat. They attempted to wake Koto through their usual methods of tickling his feet, gently rocking him, and calling out to him but nothing woke the boy. They looked at one another, unsure of how to wake their child. Then, just as quickly as it had started, it had ended. Koto was once again resting quietly. This cycle continued for the entire night until finally on the morning of Koto's fourth birthday, he woke up, having forgotten the bizarre dream he had endured. Kata and Po decided against telling Koto of their stressful night and instead began their own plans. Operation Birthday Party had officially begun.

To celebrate the year where Koto would (hopefully) receive his quirk, the Futo's had filled out Koto's birthday to the brim as every hour was filled with a fun activity with an hour and a half allotted to lunch.

Koto's party began at 10 AM with the arrival of his friends and the activities were listed on his decorative birthday party invites, made by Koto himself (with his parents filling out the activities). Kata giggled at Koto's daring attempt at a birthday card which was a pile of macaroni, glue, and black marker scribbles and sent them off to all his friends.

KOto's AwsOm b-day PaRty

I wuld lov it if you cam to my birthdy party!

Activities:

10 AM Show-Up and Play Time

11 AM Trip to the Playground

12 PM - 1 PM Pool Party

2 PM - 3:30 PM Lunch (Pizza!)

3:30 PM - 4 PM Tag Tournament

4 PM Nap Time

5 PM Water Balloon Fight

6 PM Dinner and Gift Opening

The list went as planned leading up through to lunch and Koto was having a blast with all his friends. He had run around the playground and slid down his favorite slide twelve times before he saw that his friend had fallen and gotten hurt, quickly rushing off to help her. Kata hadn't seen the child get hurt but when Koto took her to Kata, she rushed immediately to get a band-aid for the small scratch. Kata watched Koto as after he saw that his friend had been taken care of, he eagerly ran back to play. _He may still be a kid, but he has a heart of gold, and would never hurt a fly, just like his father_.

Other than the small scratch, play-time, the playground, and the pool party all went without any incident, which still left more than half of Koto's birthday party left for him to enjoy. The time came for lunch and Kata drove off the grab the pizzas for the now hungry kids and some much needed silence for Kata. Since Kata had left for the pizzas, the responsibility to watch the kids had fallen to Po, which would have been more than easy enough for Po to do but the incident with Koto's sleep difficulties left him with little sleep and consequently, little energy and fell asleep within minutes of Kata leaving, who had drank the last of the coffee to stay awake while driving. One of Koto's more adventurous friends, Leo wanted to venture around the neighborhood, having already grown bored of waiting around for Kata to return with pizza.

Koto quickly refused, "We can't leave! It's not safe for us to walk around without an adult."

Leo, however, was undeterred, "It's not like we'll be going very far from the house, we can just head back to the playground down the street!" Hearing mention of the playground, the other kids picked their heads up and all quickly joined with Leo, telling Koto they wanted to go to the playground.

"But the rules say never leave the house without one of us!"

"Who told you that?"

"My mommy and daddy!" After saying this, Koto beamed with pride at the thought of his loving mother and father, even if one of them was completely passed out! _He probably didn't sleep well_, Koto thought.

Leo saw his chance and took a shot at Koto, already anticipating the feeling of the wind from the slide flow through his patch of hair, "C'mon, what are you? A momma's boy?"

"So what if I am?" This caught Leo completely by surprise. He had believed that Koto would try to prove him wrong and would agree with Leo, but instead, Koto had defended his parents from the insult of a four year old.

Leo backed down and Koto won the battle but Leo still planned on getting to the playground, with or without any of the others. Leo waited ten minutes for Koto to become distracted and quickly slipped around the corner of the property, running off towards the playground, but not before being spotted by one of Koto's friends who immediately went and told Koto.

Koto ran off to search for his friend but after arriving at the playground he did not see Leo anywhere. Around the large rock, near the swing set, and under Leo's favorite slide, not a trace of Leo was there. That was before a scruffy and sick sounding voice called to him, turning around Koto saw a pale man in greasy jeans and an unwashed shirt staring at him with a strange look in his eye. For the first ten seconds, the two just stood and watched each other, before the man asked, "Hey kid, what are you doing out here all by yourself?"

Koto was beyond scared, unwilling to take even a single step towards the man, but the man was more than willing to take a step towards him.

"Where are your parents?" Koto didn't respond.

"What are you doing out here all by yourself?" Koto didn't respond

"Are you lost?" Koto didn't respond.

"Or maybe you're looking for something, or rather, someone."

This got Koto's attention as the man pulled out something from his back pocket, but upon closer inspection, it was a card with three stripes, the top being colored a pale skin color, the middle being the same lime green as Leo's jacket, and the bottom being the same navy blue as Leo's jeans, it was obvious the man had taken Leo. Koto was no longer afraid of the man, ready to save his friend. Koto charged forwards swinging wildly with his four year old fists. These swings did nothing to the large man as he knocked Koto to the ground easily. He was powerless against him as the man slowly reached towards Koto, a mist beginning to surround the man's hand.

* * *

Koto was falling through a black void, he looked around, completely terrified. _Where did the man go? Where am I?_ He looked around as he continued his descent, unable to find any answers. Eventually he landed face first into some sort of floor. When he picked his head up, he saw he was in a sprawling meadow that continued as far as the eye can see.

_You let him out._

The voice startled Koto as he turned around to see a pale thin man.

_I couldn't protect you._

With those words, Koto remembered the previous night and the strange dream he endured. Koto began to wonder, _This is the same man as before, but what does me mean by protect me?_

_What I mean is protect you from yourself. _

Koto jumped back at the realization that the man had heard him. Did he talk aloud?

_Welcome to the meadow, the place that exists only in your mind. In the meadow, you do not need to talk, and instead must only collect your thoughts to communicate with others here. I am Xatl, it is both a pleasure and a tragedy to meet you._

Koto was now filled with questions, _Does everyone have one of these? _

_No._

_Then is this my Quirk?_

_It is a consequence of it._

_What do you mean?_

Xatl stayed silent for several minutes debating whether to reveal what was truly happening. But decided against it, choosing to tell Koto at a later date.

_Your Quirk is special. It is the result of the combination of your mother's original quirk and your father's psychological condition. Your Quirk is named __**MULTI-SOUL**__._

Koto was both intrigued and incredibly confused at the reveal of his long-awaited quirk. He had no idea what a soul even was.

_Throughout history, survival was dictated by evolution and mutation. Whatever mutated and survived, continued to breed and passed its traits down, whatever didn't died. Up until the first quirk, all the mutations had been primarily mental and physical, affecting the condition of your brain or changing an aspect of your body. But never before has a mutation affected the soul itself, at least it was until the first quirk._

Koto's questions still went unanswered, what was a soul and what does multi even mean? He had never heard of it until now.

_The soul is the culmination of your very being. Your soul is you and you are your soul. If your soul is changed, you will never be the same you that existed beforehand which is why quirks haven't existed until recently in history. Quirks are a direct evolution of the soul._

Koto was reeling back from the excess of information. He had so many questions and his four year old brain couldn't handle much of the information Xatl had just told him. Before Koto had enough time to ask more questions, he caught a change in the gently swaying grass far off in the meadow. The color of the grass turned a deep black, the same color as the void Koto had fallen through to enter the meadow and it was rapidly spreading. The black spread through the blades of grass, changing their gentle swaying to a frantic bend in one direction, as if they were being blown by a hurricane.

Koto began to panic as the ever expanding black spread through the meadow. _What's happening mister?_

Xatl stayed silent, a deep red circle appearing under their feet.

The black spread from the grass to the sky, turning the serene landscape of the meadow to a hellish void that rapidly expanded towards them.

_Why is everything turning black mister?_ Koto began to back away before stopping after Xatl had placed his hand on the young boy's shoulder, providing a more than reassuring grip.

The black had now consumed every part of the meadow surround the two and now began to encroach towards them.

_I will protect you._

Koto looked up at the man seeing he now appeared incredibly focused before dozens of small but powerful sparks of blood red electricity rose from him. Xatl exercised incredible control over the sparks, maneuvering them to completely avoid Koto to avoid injuring him and used them to create a barrier on the edges of the red circle, surrounding the two in a protective dome of red electricity. The darkness now completely surrounded them and began pounding and slamming into the walls of the dome. Xatl was now sweating from the strain but made no indication to Koto. Koto looked on with awe at the ability this man possessed, and it was being used to protect him from this darkness, unlike what that man had done to try and take him and Leo.

_Leo! _

Koto froze for a moment. In the confusion of him entering the meadow and meeting the man, Koto had forgotten about his friend. Enraged at himself for forgetting something as important as his friend, he let loose.

A power Koto had never felt rose from within him as entire bolts of white electricity far stronger and far more plentiful than Xatl's own blood red sparks surrounded and covered the two before continuing to pour out from Koto in a massive release of energy. Xatl stood amazed at the power this boy held within him and wondered how it had been used without any form of training with the boy's newly discovered quirk. Koto's bright white hair was now completely pointed up as he was overflowing with excess energy and his eyes were completely hidden as the bolts centered and connected from Koto's now glowing eyes. Koto moved on instinct as if he had used this power for his entire life and far longer. He lowered his small hand and collected all the energy he had released so far and even more into his fist, bringing the area inside the red dome down to a reasonable brightness where Xatl could now squint and faintly see what was happening.

_Drop the shield._

Xatl looked at the boy with astonishment. When Koto had spoken, his words held no indication of fear and held a commanding yet gentle authority to them. Xatl was incredibly tired from holding back the darkness and would be on the verge of collapsing if he continued to use his sparks to shield them both. After a small moment, Xatl decided to trust the boy and stopped supporting the sparks, which quickly gave out one by one until the shield had completely fallen, dropping to his knees in the process. The darkness hungrily rushed in, swallowing both Xatl and Koto.

All was silent for a painfully long time as the void had seemingly conquered this new and unfamiliar land. The silence served as a painful reminder of the life that once existed here.

_It won't end here. I won't let it!_

Cracks began to form in the void surrounding where Koto and Xatl had been before completely shattering as Koto was revealed to be expelling a never ending pool of electricity from his body as his punch sent bolts of purifying white electricity across the entirety of the seemingly never ending meadow, eradicating any and all hints of the void, returning the meadow to its previous, serene state.

Koto stood in the meadow for only a moment more and turned around to see Xatl giving him a somber smile, as if he knew something Koto did not.

_You have a hard time ahead of you_.

* * *

Koto opened his eyes drearily and he looked around in a panic. It took Koto more than two minutes to take in his surroundings. The playground was gone and everything else was gone.

In its place, all he saw was rubble.


	2. A Difficult Upbringing

**Disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of the My Hero Academia Franchise**

* * *

**Important:**

I put all the little additions and comments inside of parentheses

For example: Xatl had control over the meadow (he could manipulate it, not control it like some sort of deity, that would make him BEYOND busted, y'know?)

These notes will be more helpful in other chapters, but it's important i say this now

I also write words in Italic to show either the thoughts of a person or a flashback, if it's not clear which one it is, I'll label it

Anything I put in bold is going to be important, whether it's the name of a quirk, or an important line that you may or may not (wink wink) see in a future chapter

Finally, this chapter is more action packed and it's nowhere near as depressing as the first chapter 'cuz WOW that was depressing

* * *

The Tragic Hero: Lightning Knight

Chapter 2: A Difficult Upbringing

* * *

All Might rushed to the site of the massive attack by some sort of monster, using his incredible leaps to make the several dozen mile journey in mere minutes. He had received a panicked call from his agency that an city not too far from him had been completely decimated in an instant. Several other heroes close to the site of the attack sent a confirmation that they would intercept the villain and try to end the attack and if they couldn't by themselves, at least stall it until other, more powerful heroes arrived. During any mission, a hero has a communication link online at all times to keep their central command updated with information of the continuing battle. Twelve of these heroes ran in to fight, with each of them coming from a different route, more than 1000 meters apart.

Their links were ended simultaneously.

Fearing the worst, All Might prepared for the potential battle with his nemesis, All for One, the man who could end the very world if left unattended. That was the destructive power of All for One. He landed his final mighty leap in a combat stance, frantically keeping watch for any kind of attack from any direction. However, no such attack was ever thrown, no such sounds were made. Only the silence of a once living city remained. The silence was long and disturbing. All Might waited for the villain capable of such a despicable act to appear, but no changes were seen in the rubble. Until he heard to cry of a survivor.

Koto could not process any aspect of what he was seeing, his home had been turned to rubble, as had his entire neighborhood and city. Nothing remained of what used to be his happy life with his family and he began to cry as a confused and lost child.

"MOMMY! DADDY! Where are you! I wanna go home!" With each call, Koto was blinded by more tears. Blinded to the point that he was unable to notice that the tall pile of rubble next to him was beginning to collapse, threatening to bury and crush the small boy. The rush of powdery bricks and burning wood came within inches of Koto's fragile body before being demolished by the powerful punch of the number one hero, All Might. All Might had heard the cries of the boy and rushed to his aid as soon as he was able, nearly losing him to the collapsing pile of rubble. Koto looked up, his eyes puffy from crying and began to cling to the man.

"Hello there young man!" All Might smiled before kneeling down to the child's height. Even though the situation was bleak, it was important that All Might continue to smile and give the boy hope; "I know things look scary right now, but I need you to help me. Do you know what happened here or what the villain that did this looked like?" All Might would leave the question as to why the boy was naked to a later date.

The mere presence of Koto's idol was enough to calm the child down enough for him to begin to speak semi-rational sentences.

"My friend went to the playground by himself and I got worried so I ran after him," Koto paused to sniffle back the snot that was now beginning to leak from his nose; "I couldn't find him anywhere and then this man started talking to me asking where my parents were but then-" another sniffle, Koto was starting to panic and work himself up again to the point where nothing could be understood; "then he started walking towards me and-andhehadmyfriendwithhimandhetriedtotakemetooand-"

"Hey, hey, hey…" All Might looked the child in the eyes; "You look like someone who really cares about other people right?" Koto nodded. "If you really want to help your friend right now, I need you to calm down and tell me what the man looked like." All Might made sure to speak each word carefully, slowly, and calmly. Koto took a moment to calm down a little before continuing.

"The man had my friend and he started walking toward me. I got scared that he would hurt him so I ran at him but I couldn't do anything… I couldn't be a hero like you." Koto felt guilty about how he couldn't help his friend when he was needed the most, All Might clearly noticed this and hugged the small boy before seeing another pile of rubble in the distance begin to collapse, both him and the boy failing to notice the thin white bolt of electricity that was released from Koto's hair.

_As much as I want to know what's going on here, it's clear that this boy is the only survivor of whatever it was that attacked this place._ All Might picked up the child, carrying him and prepared to jump._ The villain may still be here so I need to get this boy away from here, his safety is my top priority._

All Might carried Koto over his shoulder, so when he jumped, he unknowingly gave Koto one last look at what the destruction that was caused by some unknown villain. The boy suddenly felt exhausted, realizing that his body felt like he had run more than three miles and was bruised and battered all over. Koto finally closed his puffy eyes and rested his head on All Might's shoulder before finally beginning to rest. Koto thought back to the list of activities his mother had made for him. Lunchtime had ended and Nap Time had finally arrived.

* * *

Every person that had lived in the area that was once Koto's city, which was now a smoldering pile of rubble, had been pronounced dead, even the twelve heroes that responded were never found after their comm links had gone out, prompting everyone to believe they had died in the battle against the unknown villain. All Might originally planned to take the child to the police station to try and get more information out of him about what he knew about the man he spoke of, but upon seeing the boy's condition continue to deteriorate, All Might administered Koto to the nearest hospital, earning many shocked expressions from the staff, who had just seen All Might personally deliver a young child for treatment.

The police arrived soon after and Koto told them what the man at the playground looked like. He was classified as an S-class villain due to the sheer power he supposedly held and news of the man spread quickly. However, even with more than two thirds of the population watching for the powerful villain to strike again, he never once more made an appearance. Prompting All Might and most of the other heroes to believe he had died from the battle with the other heroes or during his escape in a remote location, with his body never being found. After Koto had fully recovered from his mysterious injuries, he was administered to a far-away orphanage to ensure the boy would never return to his destroyed home. All Might visited the boy from time to time, and with each visit, the boy clearly showed signs of moving on from the traumatic event.

All Might walked up to the door of the orphanage, more than giddy knowing that his visit would bring Koto the highlight of his week and put the boy in a good mood for far more than a month, at least, that's what Koto told him on his last visit, more than two months ago. _That little goofball_. Walking in, the woman at the front desk, the caretaker of the orphanage, greeted the Number One hero in a somewhat calm manner, having grown use to the hero visiting (but she was still amazed at the presence of the man each and every time), before her excited smile turned to a somber expression.

"I am here! To visit Koto Futo that is!" All Might proudly exclaimed, bringing everyone in the entire orphanage to rush excitedly to the front door upon hearing his powerful voice. All Might was quickly drowned in a sea of small children and teenagers, all of whom had a wondrous look in their eyes as they looked at him.

"I'm terribly sorry All Might, but Koto isn't here anymore," a voice said sarcastically.

All Might turned to look down at the owner of the voice. He was a skinny teen that All Might failed to recognize, was covered in bruises and scratches, and had a broken arm that appeared to be almost halfway done with the healing process. He was definitely worse for wear and many of the injuries looked like they were made recently.

"I don't believe I heard you correctly young man," All Might said boisterously, "It almost sounded like you said Koto Futo no longer lives here."

"He's right, you know," All Might's happy expression turned to one of a confusion as the caretaker walked over to the now worried man. "He attacked Ren and used his quirk to gravely hurt the boy. After I walked down the stairs, I found Koto pummeling him on the ground and he only stopped after I pulled him off of Ren."

"Yeah! And then the little punk got what he deserved and was kicked out!" Ren angrily shouted. All Might became horrified at the thought that Kuto would viciously attack another boy and hurt him to this degree and his worry only increased at the thought that Kuto was now in juvenile hall, or worse, out on the streets.

"Be Quiet Ren! And go to your room, I don't want to see you right now," The woman hissed. The angsty teen opened his mouth to begin arguing with the woman but All Might's glare quickly killed the words the teen had before he grumbled and started walking up the stairs. After he had left, the woman sighed, "I just don't know what is wrong with that boy."

All Might looked at her with a deep look of confusion before she continued, "Ren has had a tough time adjusting to the orphanage, his parents only recently passed away and they had never appointed a god mother or father to take care of him in their absence, so he was sent here. He came here the day after your last visit two months ago and treated everyone harshly." The many kids surrounding the two adults began to nod quietly in confirmation. "I tried to help him deal with his grief but he just shut me out completely and started to bully some of the other kids. Then, just last week everyone runs into my room and starts screaming about how Koto and Ren are fighting. I ran downstairs and saw Ren on the floor, pinned by Koto with a broken nose as Koto broke the boy's arm. I pulled him off of Ren and called for an ambulance to take him to the hospital. I asked Koto why they were fighting and he told me he didn't like how Ren treated everyone else! Ren always avoided Koto because he always had so many of his friends around him all the time so I just don't know how he found out!"

All Might's face quickly lost whatever color it had left as he walked over to the nearest chair, sat down, and began to rub his temples, remembering their final conversation on his last visit.

_All Might was standing in front of the front door, saying his goodbyes and turning to leave before Koto tugged on his pants leg. _

"_All Might, how are you always happy? How are you always smiling?" _

_All Might looked at the small boy who was now crying profusely. All Might had noticed Koto had looked incredibly sad that day and spent all his time with the boy, frantically trying to cheer him up, but it seemed nothing worked, but he knew why. It was the third anniversary of the day the villain attacked and took everything Koto knew away. Koto's seventh birthday. All Might led the boy to a room where they could talk in private before kneeling down and placing his hands on the boy's shoulders._

"_Koto, the truth is, I'm not always happy, but I do know that my smile brings hope to a lot of other people, so I smile for them. I smile to give them hope." All Might checked the door to make sure no one was looking in on the two. Seeing no one there, All Might looked back at Koto and turned back into his normal form, without the bulging muscles, without the pointy hair, and without the grand smile. Koto only stared at his hero in shock as the most powerful hero deflated to a skeleton of a man, his jaw hanging wide open. _

"_This is what I really look like Koto," All Might declared. "This is my biggest secret, but I trust that you won't tell anyone."_

"_I don't get it, why do you look so sad?" Koto asked._

"_It's because I am sad Koto. I'm sad because I can see you going through a pain that I can never imagine, a pain that I can't help make go away." All Might spoke quietly, "I can't help everyone and that fact is the hardest thing I go through every day."_

"_Ha-Harder than fi-fighting villains?" Koto was now sobbing as his idol pulled him into a hug._

"_Yes Koto, harder than fighting villains. But helping anyone I can always makes me feel better," All Might paused. "Do you know why?" _

_Koto looked up, with puffy eyes and red cheeks, "Because helping people makes you happy, All Might?"_

"_Because helping other people is the greatest thing any person can do, no matter if it's just talking to them or if it's defending them from a villain attack. Do you still want to be a hero?"_

_Koto nodded. "Helping others is the most heroic thing you can do, so whenever you see something another person is struggling with, help them, and you'll see that you'll feel a lot better." All Might deliberated in his head for a moment. Could he trust the boy with his identity? All Might shook his head with a small chuckle, of course he could. It was Koto after all. "My name is Toshinori Yagi, it's nice to finally meet you." Koto's face broke out into a wide smile as he embraced his newfound friend once more. Toshi found himself grinning at the fact that he was finally able to cheer his number one fan up, Happy Birthday kid._

Toshi collected his thoughts before finally worrying about where Koto was, "Where is Koto now? He's not in out on the streets is he?" Seeing All Might in a great deal of stress began to scare many of the small children still gathered around him, prompting the caretaker to take Toshi to another room to talk privately.

"No, I used every connection I had but I couldn't keep Koto here with Ren, so I had to transfer him to another orphanage, but yesterday they told me they had to transfer him to another one because he got into a fight in that orphanage as well!"

All Might looked her dead in the eye with a serious expression, giving off an incredibly intimidating presence, "Tell me where it is."

* * *

Three years had passed since Koto's fourth birthday, three years since his parents, along with his home and everyone else, died at the hands of a monster. In that time, he had met with Xatl many more times in the meadow and had learned all the strange little rules surrounding it. Koto was the only person with a meadow, he was able to drag other people into the meadow although he couldn't do it yet because he couldn't tell when he was going to show up in the meadow, to communicate in the meadow all he needed to do is think of what he wanted to say, Xatl had incredible control over the meadow (in terms of the manipulation of it, not like some all-powerful deity, I couldn't make him too busted, y'know?), and to get to the meadow he had to be asleep and it wouldn't always happen (at least not now). After Koto's seventh trip to the meadow about a year after the villain attack, Xatl announced that he would begin to train Koto to control his quirk.

_You'd really do that for me? Koto was staring at the skinny man in disbelief. _

_Xatl looked at the wide eyed, smiling kid that had plagued him for more than a year with his constant barrage of questions (most of which he gave no answer to) and only for a moment, a small smirk formed at the edges of his mouth. The smirk was subtle, but not subtle enough that Koto didn't see it, only beginning to smile wider. Xatl only sighed in response, berating himself for being caught, it was a bad habit they all had._

_Of course I would, I'd rather teach you how to protect yourself and not hurt everyone around you instead of listening to you wail as you tell me how you electrocuted another mouse. _

_Xatl knew that Koto didn't like to hurt others, he was too innocent. But if he was going to be a hero like he was always telling him, he needed to be able to fight, at the least be able to control his quirk. Returning from his thoughts, he realized that Koto had tears pricking the edges of his eyes._

_I didn't mean to…_

_Xatl just sighed, picking Koto up and letting Koto give him a very tight bear hug while sobbing into his shoulder, or his suit, or whatever it was. They had a lot of work to do._

Xatl would teach Koto how to control his quirk and its various abilities. Over two years, Koto learned to control the electricity that resided in his body (mostly), how to release it, and control how much was released. Koto knew his quirk was capable of many other abilities besides just generating electricity, something he had discovered when he was drinking from a soda can, giving off electricity to give the soda a nice zap feeling, before a small muscle spasm in his hand led to the can becoming utterly crushed in Koto's grasp. Koto asked what his quirk really was but Xatl never said anything but,

_You aren't ready_

Xatl would teach him in the meadow and Koto would practice when he was awake and that was how two years flew by.

Koto stared at the orphanage, with his belongings in a small little bag that he had been given by the kids in his first orphanage as a goodbye present. Koto smiled at the memory of his old friends, pained that he wouldn't be allowed to see them again. His bag only had two objects in it, the only two things he owned besides the bag itself; a small figurine of All Might and a photo of his parents and Koto walking down the road towards the playground with Po carrying Koto on his shoulders as the boy pretended to be an airplane, Kata laughing as she looked at the two. It was the only picture of his parents left and was given to him by the only person from the neighborhood that was left, since she was away for a business trip at the time.

Koto missed the kids at his old orphanage, he missed his caretaker, hell he even missed Ren! Koto put on a smile, hoping that he could make some new friends at his new home. He walked through the front doors and began to choke, feeling something tighten around his neck. Koto fell to the ground, gasping for air but unable to get any before a much older boy, somewhere between fifteen and eighteen, walked calmly over to him.

"You must be the new kid right? Well we got some things to talk about." The boy smiled at him sweetly.

Koto still couldn't breathe and was pulled along by the collar of his shirt into a barren room reeking of alcohol, Koto quickly recognized that this was supposed to be the caretaker's room. He was thrown on top of a creaky bed whose springs screamed at the sudden weight that appeared. Whatever was gripping his neck disappeared and he could breathe again. Koto gasped for air, reeling in the bliss that was breathing, oh how he missed it.

"My name is Shie," the teen said. Koto opened his mouth to respond before being but off, "I don't care what your name is, you're just here to get the rules of this place." Koto looked off in thought, _Rules? I already know the rules of living in an orphanage. No taking other's stuff, be polite to one another, and no fighting. _Koto felt guilty at the thought of the last rule, the rule he had broken. But Koto did not regret what he had done, afterall, he did it to save someone else, just like Toshi had said. Koto felt Shie's fist drive into his left cheek and fell to the ground, "You damn well better listen to me you little bastard, rule number one, when I talk to you, you better fucking listen," Koto only nodded, rubbing where he was struck. "That's much better," Shie's sweet smile returning, "Listen here kid, I run this place and therefore, **I run you.**" Koto gulped at the threat. "Here's the rules, you listen to me when I speak to you, you come when I call for you, you do what I tell you to, and you definitely do not say NO to me, got it?"

"Y-Yes…" Koto mumbled quietly.

"What was that?" Shie asked before striking Koto again.

"Yes Shie!" Koto was on the verge of crying, which was something he knew he didn't want to do near Shie.

"Good. I'm glad I could welcome you to my home," Koto definitely didn't miss the 'my' part of Shie's cheerful statement.

Shie left the room, leaving Koto behind to smell the alcohol.

Koto walked out of the room after he was sure Shie was far away from the room, listening for the heavy footsteps of this new bully. Looking left and right down the long hallway, Koto ran to grab his bag which was left at the front door. Koto grabbed the bag and ran to a door that had a ripped sheet of paper saying "Koto Futo + Lacey Trae". He thought it was strange that the orphanage was so full that they had to share rooms when his orphanage always had five rooms completely empty. Walking in he saw what he assumed was his roommate laying on her bed. After she noticed him, she jumped up to greet him. _I hope she is better than Shie_, Koto thought, his cheek still stinging from the two punches he got.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Lacey Trae and I know that Shie already gave you his whole "I run this place" speech but I promise you he is the only one here like that, everyone else is normal." Koto laughed as she mimicked Shie's voice, adding in a healthy dose of sarcasm to the phrase. Lacey was a short girl who seemed a little thin for her age. Her eyes were a deep hazel that just screamed her carefree nature. She had long straight black hair that reached down to her knees, she had clearly not gotten a haircut in a long time.

"My name is Koto Futo, it's nice to meet you." Koto looked around the room, seeing the walls bare and the floor stained… red? Koto brushed it off and looked back at Lacey, "So what's it like around here?" Koto asked her but he was pretty sure he already knew.

"Well everything is normal until Shie calls for someone new. Whoever he calls is gone for the night and in the morning we find them by the front door covered in bruises, shaking, and barely breathing. He calls for someone every single week and by the end of the year, everyone has visited him. Then everything goes back to normal before Shie makes another call the next week" Lacey shuddered, remembering her last visit to what the orphanage had called 'the room'.

"Why doesn't the caretaker do anything about Shie?"

"He's rarely ever here." Lacey just stared forward, clearly some unpleasant memory flashing in her mind, "And the times he is here, he's blackout drunk. No one is here to protect us from Shie so he just runs the place. Anyone that tries to stand up gets pummeled so everybody just looks the other way when someone is called to Shie."

Koto didn't know how to respond, so he began to stare forward, an empty silence settling in the room. He wanted so badly to tell her that everything would be alright, but he just didn't know if that was true. Lacey recognized that Koto was struggling to say anything so she quickly changed the subject to something more pleasant, "So what do you like to do for fun?"

Lacey and Koto talked for what seemed like only a few minutes, talking about the what they enjoyed, how their schools were, and who their favorite heroes were. In reality, hours passed as they continued to talk about different heroes they liked. After listening to Koto talk about heroes for ten minutes straight, Lacey cut in, hoping that Koto would finally start to breathe.

"You really like heroes, huh?"

"Yeah! Back when I was little, twelve heroes saved me from a terrible villain. They were amazing people" Koto now had a distinct sparkle in his eye as he spoke as he looked at his newfound friend before he realized she was now looking at him, very clearly concerned.

"...were?"

"They all died fighting the villain," Koto looked down out of guilt, "But I won't forget what they did for me!" The sparkle returned.

Seeing the determination in the boy's eyes, Lacey started to giggle before bursting into all out laughter.

"You really don't let anything get you down do you?" Lacey said in-between giggles.

"Why would I? If I want to be a hero, I have to be always smiling so the people around me know that everything will be ok!" Koto stood up before striking his favorite All Might pose. "At least that's what All-" Koto stopped, pinched his nose, and desperately tried to ignore the terrible stench that had wafted into their room.

Lacey got up, and Koto could tell she was not excited for whatever lay ahead. "Oh look… dinner is ready… Yay."

They both exited the room, walking towards the source of the foul smell… at least Lacey was while Koto tried his best not to throw up. They got to what Koto assumed was the dining hall, a large, dark-green room, with creaky floorboards and a long table in the middle. Surrounding the table was twenty fold-out chairs, clearly nowhere near enough to accommodate the more than one hundred kids that lived in the orphanage. On the table was a pile of delicious smelling foods with an entire chicken leg being placed at the head of the table. Surrounding the table were endless numbers of bowls filled with some sort of green liquid. A swarm of children suddenly rushed past Koto and Lacey and all took their seats… on the floor.

"Why are they all sitting on the floor?" Koto was nervous.

"Shie reserves the table for him and his top lackeys and makes everyone else sit on the floor." Lacey whispered.

"That's right," both Lacey and Koto turned and faced a very angry Shie, "And if you want to live past tonight, then you better move out of my way."

Lacey quickly jumped to the side, giving a nervous laugh as she backed away, before she began to walk to her favorite corner. Looking behind her to make sure Shie wasn't preparing one his right fist for a nasty punch to the back of their skulls, noticing that Koto had not moved at all and was staring down Shie.

"Koto! What are you doing?!" She whispered loudly, but Koto did not budge from his intense stare-down with Shie, more and more blood vessels showing on Shie's forehead. Lacey started to get **very** nervous, _Shie is getting mad_. She ran over and grabbed Koto's arm, pulling him away from the older boy, before they felt something grab hold of both of their necks, leaving them unable to breathe.

All eyes were on the three as Shie walked up slowly to Koto and grumbled, "You're new here so I'll give you a single pass, but do anything else, and you're **DEAD**." Koto just stared back, not even so much as flinching from the boy's threat. Shie released his quirk and walked towards the head of the table as Lacey grabbed Koto and ran.

* * *

"Koto! What the in the fucking hell was that?!" She was breathing quickly.

"I'm not really sure. I just got so…" Koto paused, looking at his friend. Her breathing began to speed up rapidly, refusing to stop, before she was on the ground hyperventilating.

"Lacey! What's wrong?!" No response.

"Are you alright?!" No response.

Lacey couldn't listen, she couldn't focus, she only felt fear and panic as her eyes darted around, terrified of something not even she knew of. She saw Koto was saying something but she couldn't hear what is was, too panicked to register his words. She was sweating, on her knees, and shaking. She didn't know how to make it stop, how to end this terrifying feeling that rocketed through her body, she could only keep shaking, keep breathing any air she could, before she felt a pair of hands on his face. Panicked, she quickly looked up, only to see Koto's worried expression at the sight of his struggling friend, before he began to speak.

"Lacey, I want to you to look at me." Koto commanded in a fierce tone, "I need you to calm down and let me know that you're alright, so let's take it nice and slow." Koto now spoke slowly and calmly before his eyes began to glow a light-white, not realizing he was beginning to release some of his stored energy. Lacey stared into Koto's glowing eyes, finding them to be incredibly beautiful and calming. "Now hold your breath, alright Lacey?" Lacey did as she was told and took a single large breath. "Now I need you to think of a sink, ok Lacey? Now imagine that sink is full of whatever is scaring you, ok?" Koto explained his steps, making sure he spoke each one so that his friend could understand him in her panicked state. "Now pull the plug and breathe out, and watch all of it drain away." Lacey breathed out, still scared, but not as much as she was before. "Now let's do it again, and this time," Koto paused, "I'll do it with you." The two children looked at each other, breathing in and out, imagining their fears go down the drain, each time, Lacey becoming less scared before finally calming down completely.

"Koto, I…" Lacey began before tears pricked in the corners of her eyes before she started quietly sobbing as Koto roped her into a hug. It's been a hard five years.

"Lacey, I know you're scared. I just met you and I already know you're an amazing person who cares about others. So whatever happens," Koto paused, "Whatever Shie decides to do to you," Koto paused once more, "**I'll protect you**." Lacey and Koto said nothing, hugging each other until all their troubles melted away, letting the silence comfort them.

"Is that so?" Koto froze, a nervous sweat collecting on his face, before letting Lacey go and turning to face Shie, ready to fight the boy who was twice his size and far bulkier to protect his friend. "And to think that tonight I was going to have fun with you instead of her," Shie said sarcastically. Koto's eyes widened, turning to look at Lacey, before a tightness appeared in his throat and he couldn't breath. _RUN AWAY! _He wanted to scream, he wanted to run, he wanted to protect Lacey, but instead he was curled on the floor, running out of air as Shie crept closer to his friend.

_Get out of here before he hurts you! _Shie got closer.

_I can't have another person get hurt because of me! _Shie started reaching out ready to grab Lacey by the throat. Lacey sat there, terrified, unable to do anything but watch as her tormentor reached for her, mere inches from her.

_I won't let it!_

Shie only heard a loud shock from behind him, turning around to be met with an armored fist, sending him careening into the nearby wall before falling to the ground. He pulled himself from off the ground and looked at the seven year old that had sent him flying, anger practically seeping out of every pore.

Koto was now covered in a bright white set of knight's armor that practically shined with the feeling or protection. White bolts of electricity shot out from hands to the ground surrounding him. His eyes were overflowing with electricity as it flew off before dissipating into the air.

Lacey looked at her friend in shock, before shouting, "Holy crap Koto! You look amazing!" Koto looked at her in confusion before noticing that he was no longer wearing his baggy cargo shorts or his blue t-shirt but instead was encased in a full suit of glowing, shining armor.

"Huh… This is new." Koto knocked on his armored right arm, having forgotten about anything else around him. At least he had before Shie sent a punch straight into Koto's face, tossing him into the lunchroom. Kids scattered at the sight of an electrified kid in armor crashing through the wall, a furious Shie close behind him.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST WALTZ IN HERE AND KNOCK ME OFF MY THRONE?! WELL I GOT NEWS FOR YOU KID! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE RIGHT NOW!"

Shie was screaming, only getting angrier with time as Koto got up from the creaky floor of the lunchroom. Both Koto and Shie eyed each other down, with Shie more than willing to kill as Koto searched desperately for some sort of escape. Despite his year of training with Xatl, he never learned any combat with his quirk (or any fighting skills at all), only having learned how to control it. Shie made a mad dash straight for Koto, cocking his right fist ready to knock Koto on the floor crying.

The Fight Starts Now.

* * *

Shie rushed in with a right hook, Koto ducking underneath it, countering with a leg sweep that Shie easily avoided with a quick hop backwards. The two sent punch after punch at one another, only for every attack one of Koto's sluggish attacks to miss. It was only after Shie attempted an uppercut, which Koto dodged to the side to avoid, that Koto had more than enough time to strike. Koto closed the distance between the two boys, aiming for his side, ready to daze Shie. Koto felt his fist make contact with Shie's side, silently awarding himself, before noticing that his fist was floating a solid two inches away from Shie's body. Shie bashed his elbow into Koto's helmet, dazing him before Shie released a flurry of blows to Koto's sides, arms, legs, and head.

"Hah! You really think you can beat me you little bastard? My quirk won't even let you get close to my body all the while giving my punches a much bigger kick." Shie gave a cocky smirk, "My quirk, **Air Compression**, lets me compress any air around me, creating a barrier that nothing can get through, especially not your weak punches!" Shie began to laugh, taking notice of the kids surrounding them beginning to back away.

"You think my punches are weak, Shie?" Koto got up from the ground, a trickle of blood seeping out from a gap in his armor. "Then let's see how you handle me when I turn up the power." Koto focused on his quirk and his stockpile of electricity within him, letting more seep out. Shie looked on, unaffected by the increasing amount of electricity emitting from seven year old's body.

"Bring it on, you little bastard."

Shie immediately felt his air shield tank a hit from Koto, having cleared the ten foot gap between them in less than a second, giving him no time to block the attack. He noticed that Koto's punch was definitely stronger than before, but nowhere near strong enough to break through his barrier. Shie tried to strike Koto on his back with an overhead swing of his fists, only for Koto to dodge back and quickly maneuver himself behind Shie before he had even finished his swing, driving his fist into Shie's back. The air shield blocked the attack once more and Shie retaliated by grabbing Koto, wincing slightly as the electricity shocked him (even through his barrier), before slamming him onto the ground. Koto rolled around in pain, his armor doing nothing to prevent the wind from leaving the boy's body. Shie calmly strode up to Koto, placing his foot on his chest, pinning him.

"So much effort, but so little power."

_I know I'm weak._

Shie flashed his cocky grin, "It's sad really."

_I'm pathetic._

"You made such a big speech to her before."

_I made a promise, and I couldn't keep it._

"And now you're on the ground, underneath the scum on my shoe."

_I couldn't protect her._

Seeing the will to fight leave Koto's eyes, Shie took his foot off the boy before turning around and walking towards Lacey. "It's a shame, when you started fighting for real, I thought I could have some fun, but it turns out you're just a weakling like the rest. Looks like I'll have to have a little more fun than usual with Lacey to cheer me up." His eyes had a sadistic and crazed look as he approached Lacey, he had some awful plans for tonight.

"DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!" Koto had released his hold on the electricity that he generated, running at full power, dashing forward at incredible speeds for the seven year old boy.

_The kid seriously wants to die, doesn't he? _Shie turned around with his air barrier surrounding him, only to feel it completely shatter by the sheer force of Koto's strike, the air previously protecting him blasting off in all directions.

Shie was falling to the ground, no barrier to protect him, and looked towards with a furious scowl at the brat that had somehow broken through his unbeatable defense, only to pale in utter fear. The white bolts that had shot out randomly before where, flowing throughout the air surrounding Koto. Koto's helmet had fallen off, leaving Shie to see the fury that was plastered on his face. Small red streaks of jagged red lines had appeared and flowed from his eyes, reaching the bottom of the boy's face. Koto also seemed slightly taller than he was mere seconds ago. Shie knew he had stepped into dangerous territory and there was no hope of leaving it.

Koto released his energy, shooting off small white sparks of electricity, sending energy through each one of them, manipulating them into the form he wanted, creating a wall of electric gauntlets.

His anger consuming him, Koto sent the gauntlets one by one into Shie's unprotected body, all the while releasing a scream that held his regret, anger, and hate that he had gathered from three years of frustration. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHRHHHHRHHHHHHHH" Koto released every single gauntlet he had made, leaving Shie grasping at consciousness, before sending one final punch from his own arm.

"I am here!" All Might shouted before having a seventeen year old boy crash through the wall to his left and slamming into the hero's body. All Might quickly reacted and caught to boy, who was badly beaten, bleeding from several gashes on his body, and completely unconscious. He then looked through the gaping hole that boy had come flying from only to see an unconscious Koto, face down, with a young girl about the same age as Koto, frantically shaking him, pleading with him to wake up.

All Might called the emergency medical services, placed the teenager down on the ground lightly, and rushed to Koto's body, flipping him over so he could see his face, a little too late to see the red, jagged lines retract into Koto's body.

"Koto, if you even think about dying right now, so help me god, I will never give you that autograph you want to badly!" Lacey shook off the comment, too worried for her friend's well being. Koto blinked slowly, unable to fully comprehend what was going on or who he was looking at until his vision finally focused in on Lacey and Toshi staring down at him, tears in their eyes.

"Oh hey guys," Koto groaned, every single muscle in his body screaming in pain, "What's up?"

Toshi just sighed, "Kid, you're going to be the death of me one day."

* * *

**Notes:**

I'm going to do my best to update once a week on Friday. If I can't finish a chapter by Friday, then it will be released Saturday.

Also, tell me what you guys think! I want to be able to write better stories so any reviews would be really helpful!

Thanks for reading!

RandomA99


	3. The Truth

**Disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of the my hero academia franchise**

* * *

The Tragic Hero: Lightning Knight

Chapter 3: The Truth

* * *

Koto's fight with Shie ended with both boys being admitted to the hospital. Shie had received multiple broken bones and serious nervous system damage courtesy of Koto's several electric gauntlets being driven into his body. Koto walked away from the fight with only some cuts on his face and serious bruising on his arms and sides. After some much needed stitches to patch a very bad slash above his right eye, Koto was left with a scar that seemingly sliced his eyebrow in two. The first time Toshi had seen it, he immediately began to scold over the seven year old for his dangerous behaviour.

"Young Koto!" Toshi exclaimed before his wide smile changed to a serious expression, "While I'm more than thrilled that you protected your friend, beating your enemy is not the only way to do it!" Toshi may have said this with a hiss, but Koto could see the look of pride in Toshi's eyes behind his sullen expression. It was obvious that he was saying this to save Koto from any permanent marks on his record. "There were many other things you could have done to help your friend!"

Now Koto was curious, _How is he gonna pull himself out of this one?_ "Really?" Koto said, hiding his sarcasm, "How could I have helped Lacey without hitting Shie?"

"Well, if you really want to know then…" Koto could see Toshi figure out the corner he had put himself in, "You could have…" Koto raised his scarred eyebrow, "Uhhhhhh…" Koto knew that Toshi figured out Koto was messing with him. Toshi inflated to his All Might form, "HAH, you little scoundrel!" They both began to laugh before beginning their walk back to the orphanage. "But the point still stands! You can't keep putting yourself in these situations. While what your doing might be admirable, someone else may see it as selfish or unwarranted. Everyone may need a hero, but not everyone wants one." All Might deflated back to his smaller self and placed his hand on Koto's shoulder as they walked in silence.

They both needed this.

Toshi and Koto walked up to the door of the orphanage, arriving during a much needed cleanup of the entire system. The massive fight resulted in the police investigating what caused such a large fight that several walls in the building had been destroyed or severely damaged. In their investigation, they learned of both Shie's actions and the caretaker's poor handling of the orphanage. Shie will have charges of both physical and sexual abuse placed on his permanent record and the caretaker was both fired from his job and was placed under police custody for an occasion he beat one of the children. The girl was unfortunate enough to cry after taking Shie's abuse and had woken up the drunken man from his nap.

As they walked through the door, they saw Lacey anxiously waiting on the creaky stairs. Upon seeing Koto, she immediately tackled Koto in a tight hug, her head buried in Koto's chest.

"It's good to see you too Lacey, but what are you-"

"When you passed out when the ambulance took you, I thought were gone and you were never going to wake up! I thought I lost you!" Lacey cried through muffled whispers.

"I'm sorry for scaring you, but it's ok now," Koto smiled, "I'm completely fine." Lacey lessened her hold on Koto before pulling her head from Koto's chest, she was crying quietly and her eyes had dark bags under them. She looked at Koto and his bright smile before she quickly pulled away from the hug. "Lacey why are you-"

"Is this completely fine to you Koto?" She pointed to Koto's scar. "When you started fighting Shie, I was so scared, Koto, but not because of Shie. I was so scared that Shie was going to kill you and I wouldn't be able to stop him! I thought I was going to lose you!" Lacey was now crying heavily, moments away from crawling into a ball on the floor and sobbing, as Koto looked on, astonished that she was worried for him.

"I'm not ready to lose you, I care about you too much."

Koto walked forward and pulled Lacey back into a tight hug, ignoring the pain flaring on his sides, "I'm sorry." Toshi watched the two awkwardly, the number one hero was not equipped for this type of situation. "I was just so worried and I didn't know what he was going to do to you. I won't ever scare you like that again." Lacey slowly calmed down as they continued their hug, before looking up at Koto slight smile that gaze off a sense of ease to anyone that looked at it. "Thank you for caring about me," Koto teased.

Lacey's face turned beet red as she realized what she had said and started squirming, trying to escape from the hug. "You're not getting out that easily!" Koto laughed as he held onto Lacey tight.

"Noooooo, let me gooooo," Lacey whined.

Toshi just watched the two, an absolutely diabolical plan forming in his mind. He knew what he wanted to do.

* * *

"YOU'RE ADOPTING US?!" Lacey and Koto screamed. Toshi laughed at the shocked faces of the two eight year olds. He had gotten to know Lacey over the past year, and slowly, her lovable personality began to show itself. She slowly became a much more joyful and caring person, much like Koto, but she was still very shy and was incredibly awkward in most social situations. _Well, that's one thing to I need to help her with._ Toshi thought to himself.

"Of course! I think you are both incredible children with hearts larger than any hero. But first, I think I need to properly introduce myself to Lacey!" Toshi exclaimed as he and Koto shared knowing looks.

"You're going to LOVE this, trust me." Koto said, a smirk crawling its way onto his face. Lacey's confusion only turned into excitement as the scrawny man inflated himself into the number one pro-hero, All Might.

"YOU'RE ALL MIGHT?!" Lacey might just pass out, this is clearly too many surprises in one day.

* * *

Lacey and Koto officially became the children of All Might within the next week and after all their belongings were packed, they began their move to the number one pro hero's house. Multiple times, the two had asked Toshi what his house looked like, and multiple times he had told them it was a small quaint house, that had more than enough space for the three of them to live in.

It was not small.

The three pulled into the Nabo ward of the city and drove by huge amazing house after huge amazing house, Koto and Lacey gazing with wonder as they passed each one. Eventually the approached one mansion in particular that had All Might written all over it… literally. The front lawn had two bush statues of All Might in different poses and each one was ten feet high.

"I thought you said this was small!" Lacey and Koto said, both internally screaming in wonder.

"It IS small." Toshi smirked, "Look at the houses around us!" The two began to playfully punch Toshi for twisting the truth. "All right, all right, I'm sorry!" They all shared a laugh as they drove up to their new home.

After they moved their stuff in (it did not take long, Koto literally had three things when he got to the orphanage, and one of them was the bag he carried it in!), Toshi took them on a house tour. The 'small quaint house' had ten bathrooms (two for each floor), twelve bedrooms, a massive kitchen, an admittedly small dining room for when it was just the three of them, an admittedly large dining room for when guests came over, a front yard with two All Might bush statues, an All Might sized training room equipped with weights of various sizes and much more equipment for any workout, a backyard with a huge pool, and a room filled with giant teddy bears for when Toshi just needed to strangle something soft and cuddly, which was an activity he started to share with Lacey when she got too nervous. The tour of the 'small quaint house' left the two children wheezing and panting.

To get their energy back, Toshi started to cook them dinner, letting the two excited children help. However, to suppress his worry that they would hurt themselves, he only let them help when he was absolutely sure they wouldn't get hurt, but even then his heart couldn't handle the stress. Finally, dinner was done. It was a simple italian dish that had a pasta base with a nice sweet and mildly spicy sauce drizzled on top. After dinner was set, the three eyed each other before digging into their food… before they all immediately spat it out. Lacey ran out of her chair to get a glass of water from the kitchen, panting as though her tongue was on fire. Koto simply looked at his plate before turning a lighter shade and falling out of his chair. Even Toshi started to look a little green.

"Sorry! I probably should've mentioned I'm a horrible cook!" Toshi said while watching the two with a an amused look.

"Ya think?" Koto said weakly from his comfortable position on the floor.

After Lacey finally had enough water to relieve her tongue and Koto recovered enough to sit on his chair, they all looked at the most threatening thing in the room, their meal.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm not so hungry anymore," said Toshi. Lacey and Koto then began to talk between themselves, leaving Toshi to watch them in fascination. They talked for seemingly ages about their favorite heroes (toshi blushed a bit when Koto mentioned he was his favorite) and how much they admired them.

Silence settled in before both Toshi and Koto burst out laughing at how amazingly they had failed. To calm down from his burst of laughter, Toshi took a long drink from his glass of water before Lacey asked,

"Hey Toshi, what exactly IS your quirk?" Toshi immediately spat out the water onto Koto.

"Well young lady, It's a simple strength augmentation quirk!" Toshi said as sweat started to collect on his forehead, ignoring Koto's protests at having an entire glass of water spat on him.

"Then is your transformation also part of your quirk?"

Toshi inflated to his hero form, "Why yes it is! And while were on the topic of quirks, I don't think I ever learned exactly what either of your quirks are!" Koto and Lacey looked at each other, realizing that in the entire year with one another, they had never actually told each other about their quirks, an excited sparkle in Koto's eyes while Lacey turned a light shade of red from embarrassment. Toshi sighed internally, _I really dodged a bullet there._

Koto was more than excited to learn of his best friend's quirk, urging her to go first. It definitely wasn't because he was afraid of his own quirk after how badly he had beaten Shie... probably.

Lacey became flustered as both Toshi and Koto stared at her with interest and excitement respectively, "Well umm… my quirk is called **Music Influence** and depending on what type of music I listen to..." Lacey paused nervously, "I can make a bubble that let's me alter what people feel like." She looked at their confused faces before becoming two shades redder in embarrassment, "F-For example: I-If I'm listening to a song t-that makes me happy, t-then I can make a bubble that makes anyone who stands in it, much more e-energetic." Toshi swore that Lacey was trying to become a tomato from how red her face had become.

"That's so cool Lacey!" Koto exclaimed.

"You don't think it's stupid?" Lacey asked with a sad look in her eyes. Toshi had to calm himself before he shattered the glass in his hand from absolute rage. He wanted so desperately to show the kids who tormented her a lesson in proper manners, with a solid punch or two thrown in there to spice things up.

"Of course not! I think it's even cooler than you are!" Koto said, a blush appearing on both their faces. Toshi tried so hard to hold in his laughter at the scene in front of him. It was laughably obvious the two liked each other but neither one ever said a single thing, leading to hilarious moments like the one in front of Toshi.

Regaining his composure, Toshi decided Lacey had suffered enough embarrassment and turned the question to Koto. "Koto, I've seen you use your quirk multiple times now but I still don't fully understand what it is exactly. Does it use electricity to boost your strength or does it let you generate electricity?"

Koto's bright smile disappeared as his face took the form of someone who had been deeply hurt, "I'm not really sure. He won't tell me enough about it so I'm always scared that I might hurt someone." Toshi tensed up and took a quick glance at Lacey, they both shared the same look of concern. "I'll tell you what I know because I trust you both but please don't tell anyone else, I don't want anyone to be scared."

_Is his quirk actually THAT strong, or is he just self-conscious? _Toshi was more than puzzled.

"I am able to generate electricity and use it to make me stronger like you said Toshi, but I feel like there's so much more that he won't tell me. But when I fought Shie… I could feel his presence in me. I felt his electricity run through me, his power, but most of all, **his anger**."

"Who is this 'he' person?" Lacey asked, now visibly worried.

Koto sighed, _I trust them_, "On the day of my fourth birthday, I woke up in some strange grassy place where I met him…" Toshi tensed his muscles, worried that HE had gotten to his favorite mop of white hair, "...his name is Xatl and he made it clear that I shouldn't tell this to anyone." Toshi relaxed, but only a little. Afterall, there is some mysterious man threatening his son. "He told me about the place we were in, something he called the meadow. It exists as a consequence of my quirk but I still don't really get it."

Lacey realized she was now gripping the table in absolute fury and was about to bleed from how hard she was grabbing it. "So where is this meadow Koto?" Lacey asked with a bored expression. She and Toshi already agreed on a plan without even saying a word. Whoever this was, they were going to murder them for scaring their Koto.

"I think it's in my head." Toshi and Lacey just looked at him with a look of utter confusion. "I can't control when I got there but it always happens when I'm asleep." Koto buried his face into his arms, beginning to shake, "I don't want to go back, ever since I hurt Shie, that place scared me."

Lacey quickly yanked Koto into a hug, despite her furious blushing, she knew comforting Koto was more important than her being embarrassed in front of Toshi… _Is that a camera?!_

Toshi hid his phone, more than happy to have gotten a picture of the cute scene between his two adopted children.

* * *

After Koto finally calmed down, Toshi sent them to bed early. It had been a long day. However, when they saw they were now in different rooms, they begged for Toshi's help to move one of the beds into the other's room. They had been sleeping in the same room for more than a year now, it just felt right to be in the same room.

They both took showers with Lacey getting out first. She dried off and got into her green bunny pajamas (they were her favorite animal) and waited for Koto to finish up. After five minutes passed, Koto walked in with his white hair going in every direction. Lacey was still amazed by the fact that even though they had tried to wash it down, gel it, and even tried to force it down with one too many hair ties, his hair could not be tamed. Toshi walked in to tuck the two tired kids in bed and left before wishing them a good night of sleep. Silence filled the room. Not the peaceful and relaxing kind of silence, but the uncomfortable and anxiety filled silence.

"Hey Koto…" Lacey began, "Are you ok?"

"To be honest, I don't know." Koto laid on his side, facing away from Lacey, trying to hide his shaking from the brutal cold that he felt anytime he was about to enter the meadow.

"I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but all that time ago, back when you fought Shie," Lacey paused as she watched Koto flinch, "I thought what you were doing was something heroic. More heroic than even All Might himself."

Koto turned to face Lacey, surprise filled his face. He had regret how badly he had hurt Shie, how badly he had broken him. No matter what the reasons were, he could not forgive himself for what he had done. He was not fighting like a hero would, he was fighting like a demon. But could Lacey really think what he had done was something heroic?

Koto turned back on his side, "No it wasn't, Lacey." Koto's voice took a cold, harsh tone, "I hurt him. I BROKE him. No hero would do something like that."

From the other side of the room, Koto could hear a loud rustling followed by footsteps approaching his bed before he felt another person's arms wrap around him in a hug that just felt… wonderful.

Lacey whispered in a soothing voice, ignoring the embarrassment she felt of lying in the same bed as Koto, "Would a hero try to help others?" Koto knew the answer. "Would a hero stop another kid from kicking a baby duckling out of frustration? Would a hero put his own health on the line to save others?" Lacey paused.

"Would a hero protect me? Stay with me through everything life throws at us? Would a hero be my best friend in the world" She stopped, letting her words sink in. She knew how powerful the boy was, but also how fragile he was.

Koto turned around to face Lacey and started to hug her back, "Thanks, I needed that."

"I could tell." Lacey gave her best smile to Koto, she rarely smiled because of her shyness, but when she did, Koto would melt and bend to her will. "Now if only we could do something about that hair," she teased.

"Anything for you, fluffy bunny."

Lacey's face went full on tomato mode, "S-Shut up!"

The night ended with Lacey and Koto sleeping in the same bed, in a hug that would prevent even All Might and his strength from separating the two.

* * *

Lacey lazily lifted her head, yawning and stretching on the way up, _Morning already?_ She looked around, Koto was still beside her, but they were now in an unending grass field. She looked forward and saw a tall and skinny man with white, messy hair in a black bodysuit.

He looked at both of them with a cold gaze. Lacey panicked and started shaking Koto to wake him up. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. She was really starting to panic before Koto quickly shot up from his position on the ground and started to calm her down.

_It's alright Lacey! You can't speak here but you can think to each other! I need you to calm down so we can figure out how to get out of here!_

Lacey could hear Koto's voice inside her head but his mouth did not move, but she still trusted him. _OK, this is REALLY freaking me out right now! Is this the meadow you were talking about? How am I here? And is that the guy who threatened you?_

_It's a pleasure to finally meet you Lacey, but Koto was wrong to tell you that I was angry with him. _Xatl sure loved to give cryptic greetings.

_You're not angry with me? _Koto asked.

_I'm not angry with you, I'm just pissed that you didn't give me the chance to explain what had happened and properly teach you how to control it, _Xatl reassured Koto (in his own strange way).

_Control it? _Lacey and Koto looked at each other in confusion. Xatl stood still, head down in thought, saying nothing to the two. It seemed like hours passed before Xatl finally looked up to the two,

_Are you ready to hear the truth?_

Koto felt a pang of fear edge into his heart as a cold shiver ran up his spine. Whatever truth Xatl just spoke of, he knew he wouldn't be able to handle it on his own. He looked over at Lacey, who was still very confused by the events unfolding. He was not alone.

_I'm ready._

_Do you remember what your quirk is named? _Xatl asked.

_I think you called it __**Multi-Soul**__ back when I first met you, _Koto responded. He remembered waking up in the meadow for the first time and seeing the skinny and cold man for the first time and the disaster that followed afterwards. It was not a pleasant memory.

_That's correct, and do you remember what I said about the evolution of the soul?_

_No, I don't. At least, not entirely, _Koto nervously chuckled.

Xatl just sighed before beginning his lecture,_ Throughout history, evolution has changed aspects of the mind and body, but never the soul. At least it was until the first quirk. The soul is what is directly responsible for a person's quirk. It is another part of your body like the heart or lungs are, except it doesn't physically exist. Your soul is you, and you are your soul. _

Koto frantically looked around the three of them, searching for any hint of the void. The last time Xatl had said this, the void threatened to swallow them whole.

_Each soul,_ Xatl continued,_ has the capacity to store a single quirk, with a few notable exceptions. Ours is no different, however, your true quirk, Koto, gives you multiple souls and therefore, gives you multiple quirks._

Lacey's jaw dropped, not once has she ever heard of a person having more than one quirk, and what exactly did having multiple souls mean?

_I was just getting to that, _Xatl looked at her, seemingly annoyed.

Lacey squeaked, she forgot they could hear each other's thoughts. Koto stood still, listening intently to Xatl's explanation.

_Koto, your father, had multiple personality disorder but no quirk. Your mother helped him with his mental issues to the point where they rarely ever showed, but make no mistake, they still existed. _Koto's face showed a look of pain and grief for a moment at the mention of his late parents. _When you received a mutation of your mother's quirk, your father's multiple personality disorder somehow fused with the mutation to create your quirk. _Koto and Lacey stared at Xatl in confusion,_ Friggen children, _Xatl thought.

_In simpler terms, you have multiple people living inside of your body, one of which is yourself and another of which is yours truly. _Xatl showed a small smirk as Lacey and Koto's jaws dropped.

_So we're the same person?! _Koto asked excitedly. Xatl sweatdropped.

_Yes and no, we live in the same body, but we are not the same person, _Xatl calmly answered.

_Ok, so if Koto's quirk lets him have multiple souls, then does that mean the electricity Koto uses is your quirk? _

Xatl's face darkened, he looked down, his messy white hair covering his red eyes. Koto saw the anger and remorse on Xatl's face. Whatever had done this to Xatl, was something that not even he could deal with.

"_Koto, you have three quirks in total. Your quirk: __**Multi-Soul**__, my own quirk: __**Sparks**__, and a third quirk: __**Generator**__. You already know what __**Multi-Soul**__ does, __**Sparks **__allows you to create small sparks that can have electricity sent through them to create any manner of weapons, and __**Generator**__ allows to to generate electricity."_

Lacey recalled the sparkly objects Koto summoned back in his fight with Shie, as well as the wall of gauntlets that had created. Lacey finally understood what had Xatl so infuriated, and hesitantly asked, _Who is the owner of __**Generator**__?_

Xatl's fists were shaking and his knuckles were turning pale, he couldn't hold his anger for much longer. He walked over to Koto and looked the boy in the eyes. _The owner of the third quirk is the villain that destroyed your city, and killed your parents._

* * *

Koto's eyes became void, their normally vibrant and bright white color dulling, as he slowly registered what Xatl had revealed to them. His quirk was responsible for everything. He had killed twelve heroes, destroyed his home, and slaughtered his parents.

He was no hero. **He was a murderer**.

Koto dropped to his knees and elbows as he let out a heart-wrenching sob that was the product of his grief turned guilt. Lacey quickly hurried over to Koto and wrapped him in the tightest hug ever known to man. They stayed in the hug for more than twenty minutes as Koto cried into his friend's back. Eventually his eyes ran out of tears to cry so he sat there, enveloped in Lacey's embrace as he gripped the shoulders of her pajamas. Her green bunny pajamas that made Lacey the happiest in the world when Toshi brought them for her on one of his visits to the orphanage. She refused to wear anything else for three days. Koto smiled slightly at the memory.

_L_acey saw his faint smile and decided now was the best time to begin helping Koto work through his pain. Putting on her bravest and most reassuring face, Lacey spoke, _"Koto, I need you to look at me," _Koto pulled back slightly from the hug, his eyes gazing off in the distance. Koto's eyes were puffy and his face was soaked from the torrential downpour of tears it had just experienced. _"I know how you feel and I know it hurts, but for my sake, please listen to what I have to say," _Koto stayed silent, but he finally met her eye's with his own. They held endless regret in them and looked as though they belonged to a hardened war veteran, not a cheerful eight year old kid. _"You are an incredible person who cares deeply for others, you fight to protect others from pain but no one has ever protected you from your own," _Lacey wanted to cry with him, to share his pain, but she knew that she had to be strong so that he could continue instead of letting his guilt freeze him.

"_Now I want you to imagine a sink filled with whatever is hurting you," _Koto closed his eyes, imagining the sink, filled to the brim with his guilt, anger, and hatred towards himself, and it was overflowing. _"Now I want you to pull the plug and let it all drain away." _Koto tried to reach for the plug, but their was too much water in the way, too much pain. He was drowning in his own hatred, his own regret and there was nothing he could do about it. Suddenly a hand grabbed his and helped guide him to the drain, he pulled the plug and the pain slowly began to drain away. Looking up, he saw that the hand that had helped guide him through his guilt was Lacey's. He opened his eyes and realized he was now locked in a kiss with Lacey.

He didn't feel embarrassed. He didn't feel upset. He felt… thankful to have an amazing person by his side.

_L_acey pulled back from the kiss, far redder than any tomato Koto had ever seen._ I did it for Koto, she thought to herself in a panic. It's not like I like him or anything, right? she chuckled nervously. _She forgot they could hear each other's thoughts again.

Koto gave her a teasing smirk before it switched to a smile of determination,_ I may not be able to erase what I've… no… what has happened in the past. But that doesn't have to define my future. _Lacey looked at Koto with a sad smile, still seeing the pain in his eyes.

_Lacey… let's be the greatest heroes the world has ever known._

Koto Futo would never be able to truly accept what had happened on his fourth birthday… but he could try, for her sake.

* * *

**Notes:**

This mystery person who owns **Generator** will come into play in the near future, probably three or four more chapters, so I've still got some time.

This chapter was hard to write. But whatever, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Let me know what you think about it!

RandomA99


	4. A New Friend

**Disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of the My Hero Academia franchise**

* * *

The Tragic Hero: Lightning Knight

Chapter 4: A New Friend

* * *

Toshi woke up to an eerily silent house. He had no idea what to expect when adopting two eight year old children, but complete and total silence in the mornings was not what he thought of when he imagined parenting. After getting dressed he walked into the large kitchen before he felt his hair stick completely up, even the two long bangs he kept that turned into All Might's signature V shaped hair when he buffed up. In his surprise he stumbled into the nearby counter, grabbing it to prevent himself from falling and balance himself. He felt a shock of pain and recoiled his hand. Looking up, he saw one of the metal pots they used to cook last night's dinner was near where his hand had landed. Curious, he slowly moved his hand closer to the pot. He continued to reach towards the pot, until a bolt of white electricity shot from the pot and struck Toshi's finger, which was now only an inch away from the unwashed pot.

Recoiling once more from the pain, Toshi mumbled, "The hell? Why did the pot just shock me?" Toshi stared in wonder at whatever had just happened. _The room does feel very charged, so maybe it was static electricity. But I've never seen it between a person and metal before, mostly just fabrics. _

Toshi began his walk to the other end of the kitchen to pour himself his morning coffee, shocking himself multiple times on the way there. Once on the sink, twice on a used strainer, and once more on the coffee machine itself. _This is way too much static electricity! Something's wrong here, but what? _Toshi began making his cup of coffee, waiting silently as it poured. _What would cause the charge of the house to change? What is different about today?_ Toshi took his now finished coffee, brought it to his lips, and took a nice long sip of the warm drink. With caffeine in his system, he finally fully woke up. _Koto!_

Toshi dropped his mug, buffed up to his All Might form and sprinted at his maximum speed to the front of the house. Before the mug had reached the ground, All Might had climbed both flights of stairs and had reached the door of their shared room. He reached for the handle of the door, before being completely struck by a full bolt of lightning in his chest, sending him skidding down the end of the hall. Only now, the bolt was blood red in color. The mug hit the floor, breaking the eerie silence with a loud shatter. All Might was in a panic, someone, no… something had taken hold of his children and was fast enough to successfully land a hit on him and strong enough to have that hit send him down the hallway.

_Could this be All for One? Has he already discovered about Koto and Lacey? _All Might cursed himself for endangering the two children. _SHIT! I need to get them out of there this moment! But if I approach the door, I could be struck again. Since it's electricity, I can't block it and with the speed the last bolt hit me, I can't dodge it. Maybe I should punch from back here… dammit Toshinori, think rationally! If they're still in there, then they'll get hurt. In that case, I'll just have to take the bolt to the chest and power through the door. _

All Might tensed, preparing for the inevitable attack, and ran.

When he approached the door for a second time, the bolt shot out and struck him once more in the chest, All Might felt the pain from the electric shock throughout his body but continued his dash forward. As he got closer to the door, the pain from the bolt only became greater as it increased in intensity. But it was pain he could take. He crashed through the door, making it fly off the hinges, and with it, the attack stopped. With the threat seemingly gone, All Might looked inside the dark room, flicking the lights on, he saw Koto and Lacey wrapped in a tight hug, completely unharmed. However, he did not approach them. Lines of white were slowly crawling up Lacey's wrists and into her arms. He could see that Lacey's eyes were wide open, with a glassy look over them, staring straight forward, while Koto's bright smile had been twisted into a look of pure anguish. Coming to his senses, All Might grabs Lacey and pries her from the tight embrace.

First her legs lost contact with Koto's body, then her head, followed by her chest, right arm and left arm. As her last finger lost contact with Koto, the lines crawling up her arms faded, all the life returned to her eyes, and she took a deep breath of air, drinking it in as though she hadn't had any the entire night. Lacey looked around the room, taking in her surroundings. In front of her was Toshi in his All Might form with a deep look of concern and fear on his face, to her right was an doorless doorway, and to her left was the missing door (now smashed to pieces). The space around her felt static-y and she was incredibly cold. Looking behind her, at the bed she had supposedly slept on, was Koto, who was beginning to wake up.

Koto got out of his bed and walked past both Lacey and All Might, taking no notice of the strange situation. When he reached the now empty doorway, he reached for where the handle should be, only to have his arm pass through air. He looked down at his hand in confusion, shrugged it off and walked down the hallway. Lacey and All Might watched as the sleepy child continued down the hallway, seeing his bare back slowly shrink into the distance until halfway down the hallway his head perked up. Koto turned around and his eyes widened.

"The hell?! What happened to the door?!" Koto asked with a look of total shock.

All Might answered, "I busted it down because the entire house was covered in-" All Might was cut off by the sound of a small giggle. Looking down at the sitting child, her laughter only grew. Her giggles slowly turned to an unending laughter that had her rolling on the floor in tears. Lacey tried to blink back the tears, only for her to finally realize that she had a nasty case of dry eye. Lacey hissed in pain, and mumbled quietly for someone to get her some eye drops.

* * *

Breakfast after… whatever had just happened was completely normal, and it off put all of them.

"So are either of you going to tell me what exactly happened?" Toshi questioned, trying to hide the worry on his face. Lacey looked at Koto, who returned with a slight nod.

"We may have taken a trip to the meadow," Lacey mumbled, almost inaudibly. Toshi's brows raised in a look of surprise as Koto facepalmed. He had thought she would lead up to it, not just say it outright.

"I'm still not entirely sure how," Koto cut in, "but I managed to take Lacey to the meadow with me and we met with Xatl." Toshi's surprised gaze turned to a look of anger. The man who had supposedly threatened his adopted son had not made a very good first impression on the hero. Koto caught the change in expression and was quick to add, "But after talking with him, it turns out he wasn't actually mad at me. WellIguesshewasbutonlybecauseIstartedtousemyabilitieswithouthimproperlytrainingmeand-"

"Koto your starting to mumble again," Toshi said calmly. He may not trust this Xatl person, but he trusts Koto. And if Koto trusts Xatl, then maybe he was a good person after all. But one or two beatings for scaring his son wouldn't hurt.

Koto looked up from his meager bowl of cereal, flustered at the fact that he had begun to mumble. He thought he had left that bad habit back in the first orphanage when he was five! That's what he gets for being such a crybaby back then. But could he really be blamed when his parents had died only months prior and he was left with a traumatic experience and-Koto stopped and looked at Toshi who had a knowing look on his face. He was mumbling again.

"Anyways, if you really trust Xatl, then I won't try to pry my way into that meadow to pummel him, but if you ever notice that something seems off, you tell me." Koto nodded in agreement, he knew he wouldn't have to say anything. Xatl is a good person. Cold, but good. "Now what happened in the meadow? Because when I woke up this morning, the entire house was layered in static and your door attacked me from how charged it was," Toshi said nonchalantly while drinking from his second mug. Koto's heart sank and he desperately wanted to begin crying right then and there.

How would the man who saved him from the monster that killed his parents react when he told him that he was that monster? Would he attack him? Would he throw him out? Would he- Koto stopped himself before he could finish that last thought. Lacey whispered something in his ear, too quiet for even Toshi's trained ears to hear and Koto looked at her, a pleading look in his eyes.

Lacey sighed, "When we went in the meadow, we were greeted by Xatl, who explained Koto's quirk fully. Or at least the main parts of it." Toshi slightly leaned forward with interest. "His quirk gives him multiple souls, which basically means that he has multiple personalities living in the meadow."

Toshi leaned back, holding his look of interest while his thoughts went wild. _Multiple personalities in the meadow? Could that mean that he has multiple quirks or just multiple personality disorder? If he has multiple personalities why haven't they ever shown themselves?_

Lacey let go of the breath she had been holding. Having the attention of both Toshi and Koto on her at once made her flustered already, but now she had to hide the truth from the number one pro hero?!

Toshi gave a large smile to the short girl, and if her panicked expression was anything to go by, then they weren't telling the whole truth. He looked over at Koto, who had said nothing during the conversation. He was looking away from both of them with his head tilted down and looked like he was close to crying. Koto was obviously hiding something personal, he was never a good lier and had always failed to lie about the chocolate wrapper that was 'hidden' under his pillow when he was younger. But Toshi would let Koto tell him the truth when he was ready to say it. He wanted to let Koto see that he could trust Koto with anything, no matter how personal it was.

He wanted to let Koto know, he trusted him.

* * *

One year later after the static incident as it came to be called, much to the embarrassment of Koto, the three were standing in the center of a relatively new park. The park was sectioned so that if someone wanted to quietly watch the surrounding nature, they could sit peacefully on the lakeside. But if you wanted to spend time with others, the other half of the park was lined with cafes, sports fields, and a huge playground for the kids.

"Umm… Toshi?" Lacey hid behind the tall skinny man.

"Yes Lacey?" The walking skeleton looked down at the nervous girl

"What are we doing here exactly?"

"You both said you wanted to become heroes right?" Koto, who had been staring off at the kids on the playground, quickly turned to look at Toshi. Toshi could have sworn he saw a look of guilt in that stare.

"Uh… yes," Lacey was only getting more nervous as the trio consisting of a walking skeleton, an electric bolt, and a reddening tomato received more and more stares from the surrounding people.

"Well THIS," Toshi gestured to the huge park, "Is where it begins." Koto and Lacey stared at him with confused looks. "Tell me, Koto, where do you want to go to be trained as a hero?"

"UA!" Koto's look of confusion was replaced with a fierce look of determination and excitement.

"As expected of someone with your determination! Now, if you truly hope to get into UA, then you have to train your bodies to handle the exercises that UA will put you through!" Lacey was still confused but Koto seemed to catch on to what he was implying. "First you will train your bodies to the point where you won't need your quirk to put up a fight. Next, we will begin to train your quirk and learn its strengths and weaknesses. Finally, you will begin to train and spar with me to learn fighting styles that would suit your quirk!" Koto and Lacey exchanged worried glances. "Now, show me what you are capable of! Take as many laps around the entire park as you can!"

Koto could probably handle this first phase of training due to his past experience with Xatl, but he was worried about how Lacey would handle the exercise. She would probably be fine, but just in case, he slowed down from his regular pace to match Lacey's to make sure if she passed out, he would be there to support her.

Four laps around the enormous park and Lacey was beginning to struggle with serious cramps in both her calves and she was completely drenched. Lacey looked to his side to check on Koto, her eyes nearly popping out of her skull when she saw Koto wasn't even beginning to sweat! The only sign that showed he was beginning to struggle was the slightly weighted breaths escaping his lips. Coming up on the end of their fourth lap, Koto saw Toshi once more, relaxing peacefully on the bench, staring at some magazine he seemed to pick up sometime between the third and fourth lap.

As they approached the skeleton of a man, Koto shouted between breaths, "You could at least pretend to be watching us!"

Toshi only laughed in response before returning to his magazine. A fifth lap passed. Soon after, the sixth lap passed, then the seventh, then the eighth. Toshi was incredibly surprised at the endurance of these two nine year olds. As they approached the end of their tenth lap, Toshi got a clear view of their conditions. Koto was supporting Lacey who was about to collapse from exhaustion while Koto was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. When they finally made their way over to Toshi, Koto congratulated Lacey on finishing her tenth lap and muttered to her something along the lines of, I told you you could do it.

"I'm very impressed, you two!" Toshi felt , he had believed that they wouldn't make it past their second lap and would need more training. He hardly expected them to make it past their third, much less their tenth! "With your excellent performance, we should be able to shorten the time for the first step and move on to the second step relatively quickly!" Lacey gave a weak cheer. Koto chuckled as he shifted her weight. "Why don't we get you two something to drink?" Toshi laughed at the desperate face Lacey gave.

* * *

The three walked over to the sitting area of the park besides the playground, Koto supporting Lacey as they hobbled past the playground. Most of the children playing were uninterested in the strange looking group, all but one energetic little boy in a long sleeve shirt and jeans, who ran up to them and started spouting words a mile a minute about how cool 'Mr. Skeleton' was. Toshi was becoming more flustered by the minute

Koto interrupted him before the kid fell unconscious from lack of air, and after passing off Lacey to Toshi, bent down on one knee to speak eye to eye, "You sure are full of energy aren't you?" The boy enthusiastically nodded making Koto give a soft chuckle, "So, what's your name kid?"

"My name is Sento Power! I'm here with my extra cool big brother!"

"That's awesome! Where is your brother right now? If you say he's so cool, then he has to be one of the coolest in the world!"

"He is! He's so brave and he protects me from a bunch of bad stuff! One time, there was a villain near our house but big brother kicked his butt and sent him crying home!" Sento threw his hands up as he raved about his brother, causing his sleeves to slide down his arms, revealing Sento's silver skin. The silver ran from the boy's hands up to the end of his forearm before changing into a normal color.

"Not that I don't want you to, but why are you talking to us instead of some other kids your age?" Lacey, was now kneeling besides Koto, asked. Sento didn't answer and instead looked away from the two older kids, tears beginning to prick in his eyes.

"SO, where is your big brother now?" Koto expertly changed the subject. The excitement in Sento's eyes returned as Koto and Lacey sighed in relief.

"I don't know! Let's go find him!" Before either Koto or Lacey could protest, they were being dragged by the five year old across the playground. They looked back at Toshi for help but he just smiled at them. The traitor. The three wandered around the huge playground aimlessly, Sento was getting more upset as he couldn't find his brother in the mass of uninterested parents. "I can't find him!" Sento cried.

Lacey rushed to calm down the boy, "Hey, it's alright, I'll find your big bro for you okay?" Sento nodded, giving a little sniffle. "So, what does he look like?"

"He has black spiky hair, he's really tall, and has big and pretty eyes like you." Lacey didn't know how to respond to that, turning bright red.

"O-Okay, I'll go look for your brother, and Koto will stay here and play with you. Does that sound like an awesome plan or what?" Lacey asked.

"Yeah it does!" Koto shouts, wrapping his arm around the small child.

Lacey walked off searching for a person that fit Sento's description. It didn't take too long, especially when the person you're looking for is screaming 'SENTO! CRAP I LOST HIM AGAIN!' Lacey chuckled to herself before walking up to the source of the voice. He did not have black hair, it was blue with red tips, but he did have big light blue eyes, and he was very tall, so Sento only lied a little.

Lacey swallowed her anxiety, "Sorry to interrupt your panic session, but we found your little brother and my friend is keeping him busy, but I don't know how long he can keep up with that ball of energy." The boy looked at her with visible relief on his face, his fear practically melting away.

The boy just sighs, "I told him to stay in one spot and I would be back in five minutes, and the next thing I know he's run off to do whatever he does." He looks Lacey in the eye, "Well anyways, thanks for keeping him busy and finding me. I'm Pentei Power, nice to meet you."

Lacey leads Pentei to Sento and sees Koto nearly passed out on the ground, having some sort of mental shutdown. "Oh my god! Koto are you alright?!"

Koto mumbles weakly, "too many questions…"

Pentei gave a small laugh before looking over at Sento with an annoyed hint in his eyes, "One, I told you to stay in one spot. Two, what have I told you about talking to strangers," He looks over apologetically at Lacey, who just shrugs it off. "And three, you can't ask multiple questions at once, you might ask something too personal or you could cause this," he points to Koto, who is still on the ground groaning, Lacey tries to hold back a laugh.

"Sorry Pentei, but they looked so cool! I saw them run around the entire park ten whole times and then they walked by here with Mr. Skeleton!" Pentei sighed, Sento was too excited to be scolded. He would fight the battles he chose, and this would not be one of them.

Pentei looked Sento in the eyes, "I'll let you get out of this one, but the next time you run off with strangers, I'm not bailing you out from mom and dad's lectures." Sento looked at his brother in horror, their parent's lectures were something to truly fear. Pentei, finished with his threat, walked over to help get Koto off the floor. "Sorry about that, but sometimes he gets really excited about interesting looking people." Realizing what he said, a flustered Pentei mumbles apology after apology. Lacey and Koto look at each other, what interesting people.

* * *

After both Pentei and Sento have calmed down, the four meet up with Toshi.

Pentei looks on with surprise, "Wow, you _do_ look like a skeleton."

"I get that a lot," Toshi glares at the two nine year olds sitting beside him.

Pentei introduces himself to Mr. Skeleton (he'll never get over that nickname) before continuing, "So Sento told me you guys were running around the entire park a bunch. Are you guys doing some sort of training?"

"We're going to be heroes and Mr. Skeleton over here is helping to train us," Koto says sarcastically, ignoring the tired look Toshi shoots him.

Toshi sighs, "Yes, I'm training them and today was their first day in the regimen. I wanted to see what they were capable of physically, and I must say, I'm still impressed." Lacey blushes at the compliment. "Soon we'll be training their quirks and learning what they're capable of in that aspect."

"That's awesome! I also want to be a hero, one that this little devil can look up to and rely on," Pentei smiles as he ruffles through Sento's hair, "I know I just met you guys and all, but you all seem cool and very dedicated to becoming heroes, so I was wondering…" Pentei trails off. Sento rolls his eyes and elbows his brother in the stomach. "All right, all right, you didn't have to hit me that hard, you know," Sento gives another eye roll. "I was wondering… If we could be friends and I could train with you."

Koto and Lacey, look at each other with a grin on their face before looking up at Toshi with powerful puppy dog eyes. Toshi gives a tired sigh in response, his own way of saying 'I hate you two so much.'

Koto gives a sly smile, "Welcome to total exhaustion, Pentei. My name is Koto Yagi," he gestures to Lacey and Toshi, "This is Lacey Yagi and this is Mr. Skeleton," Toshi sighs again, "Think you can handle us?" Koto stands up and raises his hand.

Pentei smiles and shakes Koto's hand. Toshi just looks at his two kids, _Looks like they finally made a new friend._

* * *

Notes:

I'm REALLY sorry about not posting a chapter last week! AP Exams are total hell!

Anyways, Sento won't really be showing up too often but Pentei is now a part of the "important group" so be ready to see him a bunhc in the upcoming chapters.

If you have any critiques that could help me make my writing better, or you just want to say "cool story my guy" then just let me know!

RandomA99


	5. A Little Bit of Training

**Disclaimer: I do not in any way own any aspect of the My Hero Academia franchise.**

* * *

Chapter 5:

A Little Bit of Training

* * *

Training with the number one pro hero was strenuous to say the least. Pentei often joined Lacey and Koto in their training with Toshi (yes, Toshi, not All Might, because it's still a secret) and they quickly solidified their friendship through their shared suffering. Their training schedule consisted of working out in Toshi's personal gym inside their monster of a house, training and building up as many muscle groups as possible each session. After they had collapsed from exhaustion with muscles they didn't even know they had throbbing and sore, he then took the three collapsed kids to the park where Pentei, Lacey, and Koto met and had them run as many laps around the park as possible before they collapsed from exhaustion or threw up. Surprisingly, of the three kids, Lacey wasn't the one that threw up after their workouts. That honor belonged to Pentei and his red and steaming vomit. The first time they had seen that was an unwelcome surprise as Toshi quickly began to fret over the boy who assured him that it was because of his quirk. Toshi never fully believed him.

They would follow this regimen three times a week for three years and they very rarely ever delineated from their set workout. Whenever they did, Toshi always treated them to a day off, lounging around the park instead of running around and throwing up on it, getting ice cream, or in this case, going into Toshi's private pool to swim.

* * *

Koto looked at the skeletal man who had ominously said that he had a surprise for the three of them since they had been working so hard. Pentei and Lacey exchanged worried glances as Koto squinted at Toshi. They would be more excited about this had the last time he said this not led to their bodies aching for a week after going to a trampoline gym immediately after a workout. The three twelve year olds hesitantly nodded and Toshi's face lit up with excitement.

He led the three through a set of doors that Koto and Lacey had yet to explore, even after four years, the house was massive enough that there were still areas they didn't even know existed. Behind the doors was a fairly large room when compared to the rest, it was grey in color and had tiled floors, but the main attraction in the room was the giant indoor pool before them.

Koto looked over at Toshi, giving him a sarcastic glare, "Four years here and you never told us you had a pool, nice to know you don't trust us."

"You could have gone in anytime you wanted," Toshi remarked.

"We would have if we could find it in this labyrinth of a house!" Lacey and Koto cried simultaneously.

"Y'know, I'll never understand how you guys are this loaded," Pentei gawked at the pool, eyes wide in amazement.

"I believe you guys have been working harder than normal and deserve to be rewarded for your efforts so, enjoy the pool to your heart's content!" Toshi gave them a blinding smile and an enthusiastic thumbs up. For someone shorter and bulkier than Toshi in his true form, that look would be reassuring, calming even. But on Toshi's skinny frame, it looked like the grim reaper was giving them their last smile.

Apparently too lazy to even change, Pentei sprinted towards the pool, all the while screaming cannonball at the top of his lungs. A large splash of water drenched Toshi and Lacey, Toshi looking absolutely miserable. Lacey decided against changing, considering she was already wet and joined Pentei in the pool in their workout clothes, getting in the pool in a much calmer fashion, climbing down the ladder and easing herself into the water. She swam towards the side of the pool before beginning to float face up.

She gave a relaxed sigh before looking at Koto expectantly, "Well? Aren't you going to join us?"

"Yeah, yeah, give me a sec will you? Unlike you people, I don't like walking around in wet socks."

Koto took off his socks and shoes before beginning to peel off his shirt. Pentei did not fail to notice the ever increasing redness of the girl in the pool at the sight, but Koto did. Finally deciding that he was ready to join his friends, took off with a sprint. If Pentei wanted to show off with how big of a splash he could make, so would Koto. His friends climbed out of the pool so they could watch whatever it was Koto had planned from a better viewing angle, a choice that most likely saved their lives.

He approached the edge of the pool and prepared to jump, ignoring Toshi's pleas to slow down so he wouldn't slip. He bent his knees, pressed off the ground, and shot into the air before angling himself downwards. He cupped his hands together and straightened out his back, he fell gracefully towards the water. He felt the air part before him, he heard the splash of the water, and he felt the relieving cool water surround him.

Then he felt pain.

Horrifying excruciating pain erupted from all over his body. He writhed in pain, flailing his arms and legs in an attempt to make it go away. It never did. His body felt like it was being ripped apart and scattered in all directions. Koto tried to fight the pain, trying to bring his head above the surface of the water, but **it hurt so much**. Koto released a scream that was sure to rip his vocal chords above water, thrashing in an attempt to make the pain end.

Lacey couldn't hold back her shriek of terror. The moment Koto had plunged into the water in what looked like the most graceful dive ever (at least for a twelve year old), the pool erupted into white crackling electricity that scorched the boundaries of the pool, slowly melting them. She could see Koto thrashing under the water, she could see the pain he was in, the utter agony he was experiencing. And yet she stood there, frozen. Koto, continued to flail in the depths of the pool before his movements were becoming slower, _weaker,_ she realized. A painful scream filled with desperation and fear escaped from the confines of the pool. She didn't know what to do and before she even realized it, she was on the ground, sobbing.

_No! _Lacey thought, _I have to help him!_ Lacey tried to move from her spot on the ground, but the strength she had in her legs was gone. _He's in pain! I need to get him out of there, please! _She willed her legs to move, slowly climbing up from her place on the ground and began to move towards the electric pool that was killing the most important person in her life. A hand firmly grabbed her arm and tugged her back, away from the pool. She looked towards the owner of the hand and saw Pentei, fear captured in his wide blue eyes.

Finding whatever willpower she had left, she forced her vocal chords to work, "Let me go! I need to get him out!"

Pentei's grip only tightened and he clung to his friend, desperately trying to hold her back from what would be her certain death. "I-I-I can't," his voice came out as a murmur, barely audible over the sound of muffled screams and electric zaps emanating from the pool. He hated that he couldn't do anything to help his suffering friend. Finally, Koto's head resurfaced above the water, but not because he had swam upwards, but because all the water had been ripped away by the wind current created by the powerful punch of Toshinori in his All Might form.

Koto laid on his back, unable to hear whatever it was his friends were trying to say to him, it was getting darker. He tried to move his arms, but he could barely feel anything in his body, the normal flow of energy he had grown used to using, now only a faint hum in his limbs. He couldn't move his body, he couldn't feel the pain he had just been in, but he did feel tired.

He felt weak.

_Is it night time already?_ _Maybe that's why I'm so tired. I think I'll go and take a nap now._ Koto closed his eyes, drifting into unconsciousness.

* * *

The first thing Koto heard was a beep. And then another, and another, and another. He blearily opened his eyes and saw that he was in a bed that didn't belong to him and the beeping belonged to a heart monitor. Koto lay in the bed confused as to why he was there before he remembered the pool, the screams, **the pain.**

But he didn't feel any pain now. He felt tired, sure, but he wasn't in any sort of pain. Maybe they had him on painkillers. Before long, a nurse walked into his room with a full iv bag and noticed that he was awake. She had a look of surprise on her face before she darted out of the room.

_She's probably going to tell the doctors that I'm awake. _Koto sat there before the realization dawned on him. _Oh my god, Lacey's probably freaking out right now. I have to make sure she's all right! Wait… did Pentei see Toshi buff up into All Might?!_

Before Koto could freak himself out any further, a hesitant poke on his shoulder broke him from his inner panic attack. He looked over to see Lacey, with red and puffy eyes that had dark bags under them. Her hair was a total mess and her clothes were wrinkled. Before he could say anything to try and reassure his upset friend, she wrapped him in a tight hug that before long had him gasping for air. He lightly tapped her shoulder and she looked over to him before seeing his face begin to turn blue and loosened her monster grip on him. Neither said anything to the other, letting the silence of the room wash away their anxieties. A silence that was broken when Toshi barged through the door, panting like he had run an olympic event.

"Lacey Yagi! You can not just run off like tha-" he paused when he saw Koto, and before he knew it, he was once again struggling to breathe, the only difference being two sets of arms wrapped around him, squeezing the life out of him.

"Hey, hey, if you keep squeezing this hard, then I might end up a skeleton like you Toshi," Koto said in a choked gasp before giving the two his signature sarcastic smirk. His sarcasm only earned him a powerful smack on the back of his head from the eternal Skeletor cosplayer. His smirk died down, it was time to be serious. "So, I remember everything that happened, but I don't know why it happened. Do you guys have any idea why I passed out in pain?"

"I think that falls in my department," an unfamiliar voice spoke. Koto looked up to see a generic looking doctor, holding a clipboard in his red… claws? Forget being generic looking, this doctor looked like he could snap Koto in half with those things! He walked over to the three, Koto applying the scuttling sound Mr. Krabs makes when he walks to the doctor's footsteps, "Koto Yagi, I'm Dr. Tsunabara and I am a quirk specialist."

"So you're one of those guys that help people identify their quirks and the niche aspects of it?" Koto questioned.

"Precisely, now I've already obtained a good portion of information about your quirk from your family members but judging by the fact that your here instead of at your home safe and sound, I'm willing to bet that an aspect of your quirk that you hadn't realized existed put you in severe pain and hospitalized you, am I correct?"

"Uh… yeah, at least that's how it seems," Koto was beginning to fidget uncomfortably, a movement that didn't go unnoticed by Lacey. Discussing the topic of his quirk, especially since it's the reason his entire childhood neighborhood is now sparking ashes, had always made him uncomfortable and anxious and above all, more than terrified of losing control of his quirk. "Anyways," Koto continued hesitantly, breaking the long silence, "What do you know so far about my quirk?"

"Lacey has told me that you are capable of generating electricity which can then be used to create spark like objects that can be shaped into electric gauntlets. However, Toshinori had very little to tell me about your quirk. Perhaps you don't use it very often around him, which brings up the important question as to why you don't," The memory of Koto's quirk filling the house with static electricity passed through the three Yagi's minds, "Maybe you are afraid of what it is capable of doing, which once more brings up the question of why, but that is not what I am here to do," Koto's tense muscles relaxed after hearing that Dr. Tsunabara would drop the subject. "Is there anything else that you can tell me about your quirk that you know of?"

"Um… Oh jeez, how do I explain this?" If Koto was going to be entering the profession of heroics, then he would have to be able to explain his quirk easily. Well maybe not considering the number one hero avoids the question like his life depended on it, but regardless, this could be some good practice for the future. "So… I don't have a quirk, I have multiple…" Tsunabara's eyes flew open at the words, "I know this because of a side effect of my first quirk, or my original, I guess," Tsunabara only continued to stare wide eyed, having completely stopped writing on his clipboard at this point. So far, this was going horribly. "It is called **Multi-Soul** which grants me the ability to handle multiple quirks at once and allows me to talk with the other souls in my body in what they call _the meadow_." Lacey shuddered at the mention of the never ending field of grass, completely devoid of life, and home to one of the more intimidating people in the world, Xatl. "My other two souls both have a quirk of their own, which I am able to use as any other quirk. They are called **Generator** and **Sparks**, the former generates electricity and the latter lets me make the sparks, but you know that already."

Tsunabara broke out of his disbelief and started writing furiously on his clipboard. How he did it with literal claws for hands, Koto would never know. Tsunabara looked up at Koto, still writing feverishly, "That's incredible! I've never heard of a quirk like yours, young man!" Tsunabara noticed Koto flinch at his words and the doctor tried to regain his composure, the excited smile quickly morphing into a serious expression. "We should probably discuss your… original quirk after we figure out what caused you to be hospitalized. Now, after hearing of your quirks, it's most likely that **Generator** is the cause of the problem here."

"How do you know that?" Toshi joined in the conversation, the little bit upset that the doctor was ignoring him completely. But only the tiniest bit, he swears.

"Well, in quirks, there are three types of classifications: Mutant, Emitter, and Transformation. I'm sure you all thought **Generator** is an emitter type since it creates electricity, but based on previous tests we had conducted while he was unconscious, we realized he doesn't have any blood." Tsunabara looked amused as Lacey and Koto looked at each other in surprise while Toshi's jaw dropped, "Instead, small bolts of electricity began to strike out of the area where the syringe had punctured his skin. So it's most likely that **Generator** is a mutant type quirk that has turned your blood and probably other parts of your body into electricity or something that generates it."

"Which would explain why going in the pool put me in the hospital! All the electricity in me spread into the pool!" Koto exclaimed.

"But then why hasn't this happened before and how can we stop this from happening again?" Toshi's worried face complimented by the bags under his eyes couldn't hide the terror the hero had felt when he saw Koto in pain. He silently vowed to make sure Koto never went through that again.

"Well, I believe the amount of water present affects the amount of Electricity that Koto is able to transfer." Tsunabara walked over to the phone and requested for cups with varying amounts of water be placed in Koto's room.

The four patiently waited for the water to arrive, well… more like Tsunabara waited while Koto and Lacey bounced excitedly and Toshinori looked like he awaited his certain doom. A nurse handling multiple cups of water walked in and placed them down on a nearby table, before hurrying out the door, more than happy to get away from the upset looking, living skeleton.

"Now, why don't you try sticking your finger in each of the cups to see if we get a reaction, but be warned, it could hurt if you do." Koto hesitantly nodded and forced his fear down before sticking his pointer finger in the first cup of water, filled halfway with water, but nothing happened. "As I thought, there is too little to handle the amount of electricity in your body, alright, try the next one." Koto nodded with more certainty, ignoring the feared looked Lacey gave.

The test was fairly simple, Koto would stick his finger into a cup of water to test if there was a reaction, and when there wasn't, he continued to the next bigger cup of water. Such a simple test for such a complicated quirk, how interesting. It wasn't until Koto got to the final cup of water that a reaction finally took place. No, cup isn't the right word, it was more like and entire tank filled with water. When he reached his finger in, bright white bolts of electricity seeped out of his pointer finger and into the water. Koto bit back a grunt of pain and yanked his finger out of the water, ending the test and confirming Tsunabara's theory to be true. Anything containing more than two liters of water would react violently with Koto's quirk, causing the electricity in his body to seep out. Much to his relief, he could still take showers but was obviously no longer allowed to swim in any amount of water, much to his disappointment. With the conclusion of their test, Dr. Tsunabara was grabbing his things and began walking towards to door.

Koto spoke up, "Oh, one more question Dr. Tsunabara," the doctor in question turned around, one claw holding on to the clipboard and pen and the other gripping the frame of the doorway, "How long have I been in the hospital?"

"Oh, not all that long. Just three days," and with that he walked out.

He looked over at the skelton to his right and then at his upset friend gripping him tightly, their worried expressions making much more sense now. Koto sat silently, processing the information.

"Huh, so that's why you guys were so-WAIT, THREE DAYS?!"

Koto was released from the hospital later that day, having recharged all of his electricity. The three Yagis were packed into Toshi's car, Toshi driving in the front and Koto and Lacey in the back. Koto had wrapped himself around Lacey in an attempt to calm to anxious girl down, but only succeeded in causing her to begin to sob into his shirt. She was inconsolable, everything Toshi or Koto said to her was completely ignored. Eventually, she passed out from the exhaustion of staying awake for three days straight with only small power naps in between. They drove up to Toshi's mansion, which now had a sinister feel to it. Toshi picked up the sleeping girl, and carried her into Koto and Lacey's shared room, placing her down in her bed.

Koto appeared by her side and asked without looking up to face him, "So, if we want to avoid this again, I think it's best that we move on to the second phase of training and learn everything we can about our quirks. Especially the weaknesses," Koto's eyes never left the sleeping girl. Toshi was glad that Koto was so willing to look over his adopted sister, essentially becoming her personal guard dog.

"Yeah… you're probably right."

* * *

Pentei didn't know what to think. The past week has been more than a little confusing. They were all enjoying themselves, swimming around in the pool and enjoying each other's company, and then he heard the screams and the utter agony of his friend.

And he just stood there, listening.

He hated that he was too scared to move, that he was too much of a coward to save his friend. He even grabbed on to Lacey in fear and prevented her from helping Koto. He wasn't just a coward, he was a hindrance to others. What would Sento think? What would he think if he knew that his big brother that he looked up to, stopped another person from saving one of his friends? What would he think if he knew that Pentei, the pillar that Sento could always lean on, had been a coward? A failure?

For the entire time that Koto was in the hospital, Pentei was too scared to leave his room. To face his friend who he had left to die. His father waved it off, thinking that Pentei was being emotional, but his brother stayed with him for nearly every second of it. Pentei never spoke of what happened but Sento was content to sit by him in silence anyways. He was content to bring him his food when he wouldn't leave his room for dinner.

Sento was content to be the pillar that his brother could lean on, just like his brother was the pillar that he could lean on.

* * *

Training was put off for a week so everyone could come to terms with what had happened. Surprisingly, Koto was the one least affected by the incident. Toshi and Pentei moped for most of the week, each upset with their lack of action while Koto suffered. Lacey clung to Koto, too afraid to let go in fear of him leaving her again. All Koto did was wander around in mild shock the first day and then he shrugged it off. Although, Lacey wasn't surprised considering he had to deal with much worse than this in his past.

Pentei met the Yagis at their house (mansion) for the first round of training following Koto's hospitalization. He knocked at their door, only mumbling a polite thank you when he was let in. He couldn't bring himself to look any of them in the eyes. He waited in their living room for a little while before Lacey and Koto walked down the stairs, their training gear packed in their duffel bags. They both walked up to him and started talking as if nothing was wrong. As if nothing had happened. As if he didn't leave his friend to die.

They all piled into Toshi's car and began driving. Koto was confused but more than anything mildly annoyed. None of them knew where they were going as all the walking pile of bones said was he was taking them somewhere special. That annoyance was quickly replaced with utter disbelief and awe as he saw them approach the massive gates of UA.

Toshi flashed an I.D. badge in front of the school's sensor, granting them access past the security system. Before any of them knew it, they were standing in one of UA's own practice fields before one of their hero teachers. The man was dressed in casual black clothes and had a metallic looking scarf wrapped around his neck. His eyes looked devoid of life and had permanent bags underneath them. His black hair was long and messy. The man looked like a glorified hobo.

"So which one of them is the problem child?" The unkempt man asked in a disinterested voice.

_Problem child?_ The three thought in unison.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't call my son a problem child, Eraserhead," Toshi responded in a protective hiss.

Koto had never heard of the obscure hero, but if he was teaching at UA, that meant he had to be very good at his job. "So why exactly am I a problem child?" Koto asked sarcastically.

"Because your father here has told me that you have a problem quirk, that you sometimes have difficulty controlling, which is why I'm here. My quirk: **Erasure**, gives me the ability to cancel out another person's quirk, so if you get to a point where you start struggling with your quirk, I'm here to stop you." Eraserhead was starting to sound like he didn't enjoy the presence of these three children, or any children in fact. But if that's the case, why did he start teaching them?

"Let's start with hidey over there," he pointed to Lacey, who was in fact, hiding behind Koto, "What's your quirk and how do you plan to use it?"

Lacey nervously stepped out from behind Koto, "Uh… M-my quirk is… um… **Music Influence** w-which lets me make l-little domes that, d-depending o-on what music I listen to, m-makes someone feel t-tired or energized." Koto was proud of Lacey for talking to the man. She always had trouble facing a new person unless Koto was with her or she was too loopy to realize it, but after what Shie did to her, it wasn't too hard to understand why.

"Does it act as a shield or can people just walk through your domes?" Eraserhead asked bluntly.

"I… don't know," Lacey realized.

"Alright lanky, what's your quirk and how do you plan to use it?" Eraserhead shifted to focus away from the increasingly anxious girl to Pentei.

Koto listened closely, afterall, Pentei never told Koto what quirk he had. He had said something about not wanting Koto to be scared of him. If only he knew it should be the other way around.

"I don't think I should tell you, I-I mean, it's not that I don't trust you uh… Eraserhead, sir, but it's kind of dangerous and I don't want to hurt anybody," Pentei ranted nervously.

"Listen kid, that's exactly why I'm here."

Pentei gave a defeated sigh, "My quirk is called **Lava Flow** and it lets me manipulate all lava and magma and I plan to use it in combat."

"Alright, what's your range of control over it?" Eraserhead asked bluntly, again.

"Three kilometers sir," Pentei answered bluntly

Koto gave an impressed look, but to Eraserhead it made sense. Afterall, the only place you can reliably get lava is from the ground.

Eraserhead turned to Koto, who was prepared to give his answer, "I already know what your quirk is, problem child." Koto froze, mouth hanging open.

_Dammit! I had the whole explanation planned out!_ Koto angrily thought.

* * *

After the introductions, the three began to learn more about their quirks in two hours than they had in twelve years. They began with Lacey, who's bright pink domes had to ability to influence any amount of people inside of them. Just as Eraserhead had guessed, Lacey's domes could act as shields, but they were incredibly weak and broke easily. Lacey looked disappointed at first but just huffed and her resolve to get stronger shone in her eyes. She then tried to expand an already created dome, which quickly drained her stamina and she couldn't continue. Pentei went up next who finally demonstrated his quirk after five minutes of standing around. Apparently, that time had been spent bringing the magma to the surface. It spurted violently out of the ground and he demonstrated meager control over it, but made sure to keep it far away from the rest of the group. Eraserhead instructed him to keep it in a continuous flow while steadily adding more to the ring. After ten minutes, Pentei lost control over the ring of lava, now three times the size it was initially and it was discovered that he was heat resistant. VERY, heat resistant.

Koto's turn came and he stepped into the center of the field (a different one since Pentei's lava completely covered the first one), more than ready to show off a bit in front of his friends. He closed his eyes and felt the energy inside of his body, flowing through him endlessly. He directed the energy into his muscles, giving them a drastic power boost. But Eraserhead wanted them to go past their limits right? Koto focused on the stockpile of energy in his center, letting more and more seep into his muscles. He opened his eyes to see that his friends, father, and even his teacher slowly backing away. Confused, he looked around him to see that electricity was flying off his body haphazardly with no control. Koto panicked, trying to cut off the supply of energy in his body when he realized he couldn't stop. Energy seeped into his muscles endlessly and he felt them scream in pain, unable to store any more. His mind got fuzzy and he was beginning to blackout before it all stopped. His mind cleared, the electricity flying off of him abruptly ended and he looked over to see Eraserhead's hair floating up with crimson red eyes piercing his very soul.

"Let me guess, you couldn't control it and you panicked?" Koto sheepishly nodded. Eraserhead just rubbed a hand down his face before mumbling 'problem child'. "But you could control it to a certain point right?" Koto looked up, a new look of determination on his face.

Ready to retry, Koto looked into the stockpile of energy that was within him, noticing it was smaller due to the amount of energy he had just used. He slowly directed it into his muscles, making sure to not lose control over the process. When he opened his eyes, instead of seeing his peers back away in fear, he saw them smile in pride (except Eraserhead, that man probably never smiles).

After learning his limit of the amount of electricity he could control, Koto finally displayed his quirk. First he used the energy stored in his muscles to show off his enhanced physical capabilities. He jumped higher, ran faster, and most importantly, hit harder. However, it wasn't long until they hit another roadblock. When Koto tried to display his sparks to create his gauntlets and armor, nothing came out.

After thirty minutes of trying various methods to activate his sparks, ranging from scaring him to tickling him, they called it a day and drove back to their home. Koto was less than happy with his results, afterall, he did find more problems than solutions.

They continued to train their quirks for four weeks, both at UA with Eraserhead and on their own. Lacey focused on reducing the strain expanding her domes placed on her body, Pentei focused on improving his control over his lava and reducing the time it took to get the lava from underground to the surface, and Koto was forced to work on increasing how much energy he could control since nothing would make his sparks come out.

On their fifth visit to UA, while Lacey and Pentei trained by themselves or with Toshi, Eraserhead kept watch over Koto to make sure his power was in check.

"So, did something happen in the past that could be the reason why your sparks don't work?" Eraserhead asked.

Koto stopped and turned towards the tired hero, "What do you mean?"

"**Have you ever hurt someone with your quirk?"**

Koto's breathing turned rapid, the voice of Eraserhead asking if he was alright fading into the background. Koto's inner thoughts dominated any other sound from outside.

_You hurt him. You broke him. You hurt him. You broke him. You hurt him. You broke him. You hurt him. You broke him. You hurt him. You broke him. You hurt him. You broke him. You hurt him. You broke him. You hurt him. You broke him. You hurt him. You broke him. You hurt him. You broke him. You hurt him. You broke him. You hurt him. You broke him. You hurt him. You broke him. You hurt him. You broke him. You hurt him. You broke him. You hurt him. You broke him. You hurt him. You broke him. You hurt him. You broke him. You hurt him. You broke him.__You hurt him. You broke him. __You hurt him. You broke him. __You hurt him. You broke him. __You hurt him. You broke him. You_

_Stop! _ Koto desperately tried to fight his inner thoughts, but they were too loud in his head.

_YOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIMYOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIM__YOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIM__YOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIM__YOUBROKEHIMYOUHURTHIM__YOUBROKEHIMYOUHU_

Koto was curled up on the ground, crying profusely as his inner thoughts tore into him, refusing him a moment to recover. He felt a soft hand grab his shoulder and shake him, but he couldn't feel it, his inner thoughts were dominating every space in his mind. He felt himself get dragged into a tight hug, before another pair of arms joined in. Slowly, the screams of guilt faded away and he saw that Toshi and Lacey were hugging him tightly, each of them crying. A couple of feet away, Pentei wanted to join in and offer his friend support, but looked away with shame in his eyes when Koto looked at him.

Eraserhead was unfazed, "So you hurt someone really badly with your sparks, huh?"

More tears shimmered in Koto's eyes as he mumbled softly, "yeah."

"Well, now we know the cause of why you can't use them," Eraserhead continued, "Alright, clearly none of you can continue training, so pack up and get out of here, I want to get at least three hours of sleep tonight."

* * *

The four of them drove home, dropping off Pentei on the way (how convenient) and the two adopted children of All Might were put to bed. Normally, they slept together in Lacey's bed, hugging each other tightly to offer each other support when nightmares came, to Lacey's embarrassment and Koto's amusement, but tonight Koto wordlessly went to his own bed and laid down, facing away from her.

"Koto… I-" Lacey began,

"Stop." Lacey was startled at the sudden command. "I don't want to talk about it."

Lacey decided to drop the subject, before she quickly changed her mind. If Koto was going to be a hero, then he would have to accept that sometimes, he had to hurt people to save others.

"Koto, I-"

"Sto-"

"No I will not stop, Koto," Lacey flinched at her own tone, the normally shy and timid girl now giving a commanding tone. "Koto... I know it hurts to think about it, about what you did to Shie, but you had to do it. If you didn't he was going to hurt me and keep torturing the other kids in the orphanage. Sometimes, people get really hurt in a fight, and that's not something you can prevent."

"But what if I do it again, to someone else? To someone I know?"

"That's why were training, Koto! The less you use your quirk, the less control you have over it. And if you really don't want to hurt someone like you hurt Shie again, then you need to accept what happened and begin to try and make yourself better. Stronger. And it's fine if you can't get it right away, because your friends and family will be right beside you all the way through!"

Training with Eraserhead continued the next week and it was there that for the first time, Koto was able to willfully make one of his sparks appear.

* * *

"All right you two," All Might spoke to his adopted children with a grim look on his face, and it was just a bit startling, considering the fact that Toshi almost never stopped smiling, "Like I said before, I'm going to be joining a massive party of heroes to conduct one of the biggest raids on a villain's lair in recent history, so I will be gone for a few days minimum and a week at most. So I'm leaving you here with my good friend Naomasa, and yes he knows what I truly look like, and yes you can trust him."

Lacey ran up to him and clung to his massively oversized arm, "J-just make sure you come back safe, okay?" All Might nodded and ushered in a tall man in a brown, oversized overcoat, before crouching and bounding away with his incredible strength, becoming a faint dot in the sky in mere seconds.

"I know he said we could trust you, but with that large overcoat, not gonna lie, you look pretty suspicious," Koto gave his sarcastic smirk as Naomasa just sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"How did I get roped into this," he mumbled, "Alright, I don't want to have to deal with you two and I would rather just do my work, so please just do whatever it is that your supposed to do and leave me alone unless it is an emergency."

"Sure thing," Koto said before flashing a look over at Lacey who looked just a bit uncomfortable near Naomasa. He didn't even need his quirk to know that was a lie.

Naomasa received confirmation that the hero raid was successful on the third day, but he got no word on the status of any of the heroes. Then the next day passed with no information. And the next, and the next, and the next, until finally the week had passed. And still no sign of All Might.

Koto looked uncharacteristically worried for someone of his laid back and sarcastic nature and Lacey looked like she would collapse on the floor and cry at any moment. Even Naomasa was beginning to get worried, Toshinori had never been gone for this long and not sent some sort of text, unless…

Did All Might find and fight… _**him?**_

_No, he couldn't have, _Naomasa thought, _He would tell me if he was going to!_

Seemingly satisfied with the lie he told himself, he forced himself to calm down and then set to work calming his friend's adopted children, giving Lacey a cherry juice pouch that Toshi had said she absolutely loved and giving Koto nothing. It might seem weird to Naomasa but in Toshinori's note, he had said that seeing his best friend safe was enough to calm him down.

Another week passed, and on the fourteenth day after he left to fight in the hero raid, Toshi sent him one simple text, but it said more than enough to Naomasa.

**All Might:**

He's dead. It's over.

_Sent: 6:43 AM_

* * *

**Notes:**

Sorry for the wait! This chapter and the last one were a little weird to write but I did it finally!

Tell me what you think so I can hopefully get better at writing this sort of thing!

RandomA99


	6. The Power of Guilt

The Tragic Hero: Lightning Knight

Chapter 6: The Power of Guilt

* * *

The bright light of the sun shone through the classroom windows onto Koto's face and his pure white hair, highlighting his light eyes, his angular chin, and the scar over his right eye. He tried not to look too disinterested in whatever the teacher was lecturing about but it was just…

_Soooooo boring_, Koto thought. Normally, Koto would love to listen to whatever his ass of a teacher was rambling on about, but he and Lacey had learned this stuff a good three weeks ago while studying for the UA entrance exam. He let out a small sigh before resting his head down in his desk. _Only ten more minutes until lunch. _He picked his head up to see that his teacher had called on him to answer a question on the board. The teacher had a snarky grin on his face, he thought Koto wasn't paying attention (he wasn't) and wanted to dish out some embarrassment on a silver platter to the white haired boy in the class. Koto looked towards the board to see it was a basic algebra problem that involved making use of rotational coordinates. _If he wanted to discourage me, then he should've chosen something harder_, Koto thought with a shake of his head.

"The answer is 245 degrees and 2," Koto said bluntly. The teacher's grin disappeared as he turned around with a huff and mumbled, "Correct."

Koto leaned back, satisfied. School had never really given Koto many problems since he always studied with Lacey any chance they got and she would help him with anything he struggled with. Koto was not some sort of genius, far from it, he just had Lacey in his corner, cramming the math into his head. Koto smirked at the memory of Lacey walking out of the room in frustration after Koto failed to understand a concept after the fifth time explaining it. Finally, the bell rang, signaling that lunch had begun. Koto packed up his textbook and headed out the door towards the cafeteria. As he walked down the hallway, people eagerly moved out his way. He never fully understood why they did, but it probably had something to do with his scar and the rumors that he had brutally beaten an eighteen year old when he was 5.

_They weren't too far off_, Koto thought to himself, _but they shouldn't be scared of me. I'm not the type of guy to go pummel someone because they looked at me the wrong way. _Koto smiled at that thought as he entered the lunchroom. It was a large room with white and blue stripes lining the walls, at the side was a long line where you received your lunch if you didn't bring in your own. The right side was ordinary with the occasional window granting a view outside the school. Koto headed over to the tables in the center of the room and took a seat at his designated table in the corner. No one ever sat with him; probably because they were too scared. He took out his lunch and began to eat his leftover soup from last night's dinner and eagerly waited for Lacey to show up. It was rare for her to get to their table later than he did. As time continued to pass, Koto only got increasingly worried at the absence of his best friend. He had stopped eating his lunch about five minutes ago, choosing instead to look at the doors at the entrance to the cafeteria, waiting for her long black hair or her hazel brown eyes to walk through the doors, a sense of anxiety crawling its way past Koto's carefree expression. He got up, packed what was left of his lunch and hurried out the doors.

Koto was now full on sprinting down the halls looking for the familiar sight of Lacey. Eventually he came around one of the corners to the outermost hallway and saw a group of four upperclassmen cornering Lacey. He could tell from the end of the hallway that she had been crying and that the four teens were not giving her a nice hello, how are you. They were the one making her cry. Making HIS sweet little bunny cry. He quietly approached the group, making sure they didn't notice him. When the tallest of the four was within reach (he was still half a foot shorter than Koto), he placed his hand on his shoulder and forcefully turned him around. The teen's face paled when he looked up to see two glowing white eyes and creepy grin staring him down as a hand on his shoulder dug into his muscles.

Unwilling to be intimidated, the teen brushed off Koto's hand, "W-What are you doing here, freak? Here to protect this little bitch?" Even with a taunting face, he couldn't hide the stutter of fear.

Koto spoke calmly, hiding the utter rage that he felt, "Why yes, I am actually. Now if you _kindly step aside_, so that I can help her to her feet, then that would be wonderful." He laced his words with a venom he was sure got the bully's attention.

Still trying to maintain control over the situation, the teen spoke, "And why would we do that?"

Clearly this guy hadn't heard of Koto's reputation. It was understandable, since he was mostly known in his grade exclusively. Maybe it was time to branch out to other years. Koto directed some of his stored electricity into his right fist, feeling the power rush through it. He raised it to the bully's chest before slamming it into the nearby wall. Cracks spread from the point of contact with Koto's fist and spiderwebbed along the wall before stopping about a meter from the collision. Each of the four teen's faces paled at the strength the taller boy held, all while holding that same creepy grin and glowing eyes.

"G-Good point, bro," the teen in charge cried before he took off running with his buddies.

Seeing the threat to Lacey leave, Koto bent down to help Lacey stand. She was covered in bruises and her face was red and puffy. He should've come sooner, he should've gone looking for her before he went to the table, he should've-

"Thank you," Lacey mumbled. Koto knew she could have beaten all four of them to a pulp with her strength alone, but she would never do that. She was too kind to those who hurt her, to those who beat her. She could never bring herself to show them that they were the ones who were weak. Because she was his fluffy bunny.

The two Yagis stood in the hallway, hugging each other tightly, ignoring the chime of the bell.

* * *

From then on, it was known. The dangerous looking kid from the second years was watching over the weak little girl who would never hurt anyone. It was all anyone could talk about for a week following the incident, and Koto was starting to get annoyed. Lacey always calmed him down before he started knocking the assholes' heads together, but it was still annoying. No one ever tried to pick on Lacey. They knew the two glowing eyes were watching their every move, not afraid to turn people into mincemeat if anyone so much as brushed up against her. Needless to say, the two had quite a reputation upon entering their final year at junior high.

For the first time in all of their years in junior high, they were put together in the same class and were even lucky enough to get seats next to each other. They didn't care that no one else talked to them, they had each other to talk about everything. The first few weeks were fine; for once the teacher seemed cool, their classmates never bothered them, and they aced every test (thanks to Lacey). There were weird days, but Koto could usually tell when those were coming.

So when the teacher walked in carrying a stack of blue papers, he knew it was going to be one very strange day.

Mr. Tiin walked in to a class of chatting students, "Alright, calm down before you all get detention," the class calmed down after a second, "The school has looked over your application sheets for what you want to do in life, but after the twentieth one, it was pretty obvious that you all were dead set on becoming heroes." The class burst into cheers and started firing off their quirks except for Koto, Lacey, and one strange kid sitting one seat to their right and two ahead. "HEY, NO QUIRKS IN THE CLASSROOM!" After the class finally shut up, Mr. Tiin started to name each student and where they wanted to go, "...Wanto, you want to go to Shiketsu, Nakano and Shinto want to go to Nakamora, and Lacey, Koto, and Tensei all want to go to UA." The strange kid tensed up.

"What?!"

"No way!"

"Her? Really?"

"UA is so difficult to get into!"

"She would die trying!"

"Maybe Koto could get in… I mean look at that scar," Speaking of scars, Koto used his to glare at the class until they quieted down and stopped taunting Lacey. She looked ready to cry and Koto was not going to let that happen. He roped her into a quick hug and whispered, "None of them are as cool as you," into her ear. She smiled before he added, "and none of them are my fluffy bunny," her face went bright red immediately and she hid her face in her hands. The rest of class passed pretty quickly, but there was something off about the quiet kid who was also applying to UA, he kept squirming in his seat and Koto couldn't figure out why.

Before the kid could run away, Koto tapped his shoulder and said, "Hey, can I speak to you for a second in the hallway once everyone else leaves?" The remaining classmates all stared at the two boys, all thinking the same thing: _He's dead._

His face paled and he nodded quickly, clearly trying his best to not upset the rumored to be dangerous teen and his shy friend. They finished packing up and walked into the hall. The boy was average height, had flat blond hair, thin glasses, had yellow eyes and was somewhat fit, not to their level but to be fair, they had been working out for five years straight on a hellish training regimen.

"So, you're going to UA?" Koto asked, and the boy quickly nodded, "Well, I'm glad to hear that! And from the looks of it, you're taking it seriously!" Another question, another nod. "Anyways, if we're going to go to the same school together, we should get to know each other," the boy's face changed from absolutely terrified to very confused.

_Am I actually getting jumped or not?_

"Anyways, I'm Koto Yagi, and this is my sister, Lacey Yagi," Lacey gave a shy wave and the boy awkwardly waved back, trying to find the resemblance between the two polar opposites. They all stood in silence for ten seconds before the boy realized they were waiting for him to introduce himself.

_I thought this guy was supposed to be bloodthirsty and remorseless, not nice and chill!_

Swallowing his nerves, the boy responded, "My name is Tensei Tensei, it's nice to meet you two, and for all the rumors surrounding you," _Time for a shot in the dark,_ "you actually seem like a pretty chill guy."

Koto laughed, "Well don't count me out just yet, I could jump you at_ any second,_" Koto said the last part waving his hands and gave a sarcastic smirk, "I know what the rumors say about me, but I don't really mind. Afterall, if people are scared of me, then they know not to mess with Lacey," he added a low growl to cement his message to Tensei.

Koto let his message sink in a little before he turned around and started guiding Lacey down the hall.

Tensei walked into the cafeteria and the entire room gasped collectively.

"Holy shit!"

"He's alive!"

"How did he survive being face to face with Koto?!"

"That monster nearly destroyed an entire room with one punch!"

_So this is what he deals with? Huh,_ Tensei had a new perspective to think about, one which he wasn't all too sure about.

* * *

Following their first terrifying encounter, Tensei became a part of Koto and Lacey's two man group and the rumors started to rope him into the wild stories they told.

"Why would he willingly sit with that freak of nature?"

"Apparently, that dude beat Koto up, so he earned the right to sit with them!"

_Hah, if only they knew I practically pissed myself when face to face with Koto for the first time_. However, he definitely preferred the rumors compared to what he faced in his last school. Tensei had to transfer after the bullying became physical and he regularly came home beaten and bruised. They had called his quirk and pervert's quirk and Tensei was more than glad that neither Koto nor Lacey wanted to talk about quirks. Though, there was something off about that fact. _Everyone else in this school and the last one only ever seem to care about a person's quirk. So why are these two different?_

Tensei was jolted from his thoughts when a hand landed on his shoulder, "Hey dude, you alright? You looked pretty freaked out for a second," Koto gave his signature smirk, "Still scared of me?"

"No, of course not! I would never be scared of a friend!" Tensei stiffly responded.

Koto tried to hold back laughter, "Chill dude, I'm just joking with you!"

"I don't think I'll ever get used to how serious you are Tensei," Lacey nervously chimed in, "But you were pretty spaced out and you looked worried. What's got you so freaked out?"

"Oh, it's nothing you should worry yourselves about," Tensei answered before returning to eating his food in silence.

The two had known Tensei long enough at this point to realize they were not getting any more of an answer out of him, giving each other a quick worried glance, they decided to switch topics.

"So Tensei," Koto gave a reassuring smile, "What are you doing to train for UA?"

Tensei's warm smile returned, a chance to talk about something he enjoyed! "Well, I have put myself on a rather strict workout schedule to be as fit as possible for the entrance exam! Everyday after school, I do fifty push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, and a bunch other exercises before I leave for a 2 km jog."

Koto looked mildly impressed with Tensei's workout schedule. "Don't take this the wrong way, but that's nothing compared to what Lacey does! She's a little jealous that my quirk can help me with my physical abilities," Lacey's face flushes as she quickly tries to put her hands over the taller boy's mouth, "So she works way harder than even Pentei to get stronger!"

Tensei watched the two start to bicker about how 'Koto can't just say stuff like that'. He knew the two were adopted and it was painfully obvious that Lacey had a crush on Koto, but he seemed to be oblivious to the fact, much to the relief of Lacey. The scene was admittedly cute to watch and he enjoyed watching their antics up to the point where Koto said, "You should be proud of everything you've done, not embarrassed! Tensei!" Tensei focused on Koto, "Look at this and tell me she shouldn't be proud!"

"Look at wha-" Koto abruptly grabbed the bottom of Lacey's school blazer and shirt and raised it up enough to expose a set of rock hard abs and finely toned core muscles before knocking his fist against them making a sound of bone hitting rock. Lacey's face turned into the literal embodiment of a tomato and a loud slap was heard throughout the cafeteria followed by a boisterous laughter.

Koto was on the floor crying, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry Lacey but that was the funniest thing in the world!" Lacey's face somehow got redder and she huffed before turning to look away from him, and Koto sat up, still laughing, "C'mon, don't be like that, it was just a joke," Lacey didn't say a word. "All right, all right, I'll give you time to get back to a normal shade of skin color before I apologize," he said before turning to Tensei, "So, does she work hard or what?"

Tensei was clearly embarrassed at the sudden display of Lacey's stomach and sputtered out, "W-While I don't agree with how you showed it off," he turns to Lacey, "You have some crazy muscles!"

Lacey's face re-flushed at the compliment, "Damn, and she was also a normal skin color," Koto smirked.

* * *

Lacey and Koto were lounging around on their living room couch, surfing through channels in an attempt to fill their day with any sort of substance. School had ended and they would like nothing more than to go out and train, but Toshi had warned them not to train on their rest day or he wouldn't let them train for an entire month. When he was asked why, he only said that he would rather have two bored children than two children in pain from torn muscles. They rarely got rest days from their rigorous training regimen, but when they did, they tried to spend some time with each other or their friends (Tensei or Pentei) outside of training or school respectively. Today, they decided to invite Pentei and Tensei to go to the mall with them to look around. Tensei declined, he wanted to study for the upcoming preliminary exam. Pentei did accept due to Lacey's insistence.

"We haven't really seen Pentei in a while outside of training huh?" Koto stared at the ceiling and Lacey looked away from the tv, giving up on finding anything other than boring reality drama shows.

"Yeah, the last time he went with us somewhere other than to train was a couple months ago," Lacey responded, "And he's always so quiet when we take him somewhere."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, normally he's pretty loud and friendly, but for a while it seems like he's been trying to avoid us."

"Why would he be avoiding us?"

"I already know why, but I don't have a way of fixing that," Lacey got up from her spot on the couch, leaned over and gave her 'serious' look to Koto, "But YOU do, and you need to ask him and fix it."

The doorbell rang and Koto went to answer it. He opened the door and Pentei walked inside, without a word or a glance to Koto or Lacey. Figuring now wasn't the time to talk about what Pentei was going through, the three went to the mall after a short car ride. They walked around and looked through store windows like they always did but they rarely ever bought anything, they mostly just used the trip as an excuse to catch-up outside of training and talk. Most of the conversation was made by Koto and Lacey, with Pentei supplying a short reply whenever he was asked a question.

Suddenly, a cute t-shirt caught Lacey's attention and she rushed into the store to look at it, leaving Koto and Pentei alone. Koto could recognize a signal when he saw one and placed a hand on Pentei's shoulder, and turned him around to face him. Pentei still didn't meet his eyes.

"Listen, I don't know what's been making you act so depressed around us but whatever it is, you can talk to me."

For the first time in months, Pentei looked Koto in the eyes, "Why are you being so nice to me?"

It was a quick question. Short and straight to the point, but it held such a level of anger and hatred in it masked behind a blank face.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because I-" Pentei couldn't bring himself to say it. His first real friend and he had left him in agony, all because he was too afraid. He couldn't bring himself to talk to Koto, he didn't want to hurt him again, like he had so many others. But he also didn't want to lose his first real friend in years, "Because I hurt you."

"When? During training?"

"No dammit!" Pentei shouted, a few of the people surrounding them looked towards the two tall boys.

Koto was getting frustrated, his friend was acting weird and he was clearly in pain, so why wouldn't he talk to him? "Then when? Why do you think that you hurt me?"

"BECAUSE I LEFT YOU FOR DEAD DAMMIT!" Koto was speechless. Tears were flowing freely down Pentei's face, no doubt the result of years of pent up guilt and self hatred. "When you jumped in the pool, you were in pain, and you were dying, and I could've helped you, BUT I DIDN'T! I STOOD THERE LIKE A COWARD AND WATCHED MY FRIEND DIE!" Koto moved reached forward, but the hand was slapped away by Pentei's own, "Even when Lacey tried to run in to get you out, I grabbed on to her, and hid behind her. Not only did I stand still while I watched one of the only friends I've had in years die, I stopped another person from saving you! I don't deserve to be called one of your friends! Friends would never leave each other to die, and that's exactly what I did! I abandoned you!"

Pentei spoke in a hushed whisper, "Why won't you abandon me?"

Koto wrapped his arms around Pentei and hugged him tightly.

"Why?"

"You don't know how grateful I am that you held Lacey back that you might not have realized it and you might not even know it now, she's here today because you stopped her from going in after me. The electricity from my body would have fried her instantly. You saved her."

Pentei was sobbing as he gripped Koto tightly.

"You may think that what you did was cowardly, I think what you did was heroic. You saved Lacey, and to me, that's all that matters."

Pentei asked Koto in a wavering and unsteady voice, "How do you know I won't do it again?"

"Because you're stronger now than you were then. And I believe in my friends when I see a spark of resolve behind their eyes. Now let me ask you," Koto looked Pentei dead in the eyes, "Will you leave me or Lacey die?"

"I won't," Pentei sniffled, "Not ever."

Koto gave Pentei his best reassuring smile. He saw the spark in his friend's eyes.

* * *

Guilt can be a powerful thing sometimes.

Tell me what you think!

-RandomA99


	7. Xatl's Day Out

The Tragic Hero: Lightning Knight

Chapter 7: Xatl's Day Out

* * *

What began as a normally average day of training for the UA entrance exam, which was closer now than it has ever been (a mere three months away), quickly spiraled to a chaotic mess.

Koto woke up next to an empty bed on the floor bear hugging the pile of blankets. _So Lacey's already up, huh?_ He stumbled to his feet and groggily made his way to the kitchen where Lacey was happily chomping away at a bowl of cereal. He pulled out the chair next to her, sat down, and plopped his head on the table, full force. Lacey only giggled at the usual 'Koto is not a morning person' show and continued to bite away at her favorite cereal, Cap'n Crunch (sponsor me). It was Saturday so they had a little bit more time before school started than usual. It was a perfect morning… at least it was before Toshi ran into the room at full speed, buffed up in his All Might form, slid across the wooden floors, and slammed into the wall at the opposite end of the room. Lacey stifled another giggle and Koto continued to snore on the table as Toshi excitedly made his way over to the two Yagi children.

"Alright you two," Toshi began, "Depending on how well today goes, we may finally move on to the third stage of your training for the UA entrance exam!"

"Third stage of training? Three months before the entrance exam?" Lacey questioned.

"That's right! This stage of training is not fully required for the exam but it is always helpful to have some experience going into any heroics school!" All Might boomed without thinking.

"Wait… Experience? Does that mean we won't be doing any sort of quirk or strength training but will be fighting something?" Lacey looked at her cereal, thinking what it could be. They both stayed that way for a good amount of time. "Wait! Are we going to be sparring each other?!"

"I never! I-You won't be… ah…" All Might de-buffed, "Please forget I said anything, Eraserhead will be so mad at me…" Lacey sweatdropped at the display of the number one hero.

"Alright, I won't say a word," Toshi looked grateful at that and Lacey gave a small smile, knowing that Toshi trusted her more than Koto with these small things. "And I'm pretty sure Koto didn't hear a single word either of us said." Koto snored loudly, still face down on the table. The two Yagis sweatdropped.

Lacey packed up her and Koto's training gear before hauling it and the larger boy into Toshi's car. Before any of them knew it, they had picked up Pentei and had arrived at UA. They were scanned in like usual and met with Eraserhead in one of UA's many training gyms.

Eraserhead looked even worse today than most days, granted he was forced to get up even earlier than usual to train the three children All Might walked in one day, but today he looked especially bad. His messy black hair was sticking up in every direction, his shadow of a beard looked as if it hadn't been trimmed in several days, and his eyes were nearly twice as bloodshot. None of this pointed to any amount of sleep for the past several days, which made Lacey worried.

"Umm… Eraserhead? Are you alright? You don't exactly look too great."

Eraserhead snapped back, "Yes, I'm fine. It was a long shift last night and I ended up chasing a single villain who escaped a villain raid for three hours."

Lacey ignored the hero's cranky tone, "Well, I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

Eraserhead looked at the girl and her adopted brother and friend. They had all grown so much while he was training them. Koto nearly had full control over his sparks, but he never used them for anything outside of offence. Pentei held incredible power and control behind his Lava Flow, but he wasn't using it in any inventive ways. Lacey was the one who had grown the most of the three, her bubbles (as she's begun calling them) had become far more durable than they were initially, able to withstand a full power punch from Eraserhead before cracking. They were able to expand or shrink at her command with minimal strain on her body. She is able to influence anyone inside the bubbles to an incredible degree, nearly making Eraserhead himself fall asleep in seconds, not that he couldn't do that himself if he wanted to. She seemed to have overcome her nervousness around him and seems more confident. He was not smiling damn it and he will deny it to the day he dies.

"Today, as Toshinori already told you, we'll be starting stage three of your training, and to help me with that so none of you get extremely hurt, I have brought our very own Recovery Girl to make sure any serious injuries get healed the second they show up."

From behind the lanky hero came a rather small old woman with a syringe cane. "Hello, I am Recovery Girl, the resident healer of UA, and I assume you three are the ones that Eraserhead can't stop complaining about?"

"Complaining about? Awww, Eraserhead I knew you cared about us," Koto sassed before getting bound tightly by Eraserhead's scarf.

_Damn it. That woman said she wouldn't mention anything! Damn traitor, _Eraserhead kept up his blank face.

"Anyways," Eraserhead cut in, "This third stage of training is sparring with your quirks, something that you be doing plenty of should you pass the entrance exam. While two of you spar one another, the third will be practicing an aspect of their quirk with me."

Pentei and Koto burst into happy cheers while Lacey gave a knowing smirk and a wink to Toshi. Toshi face palmed, she was not subtle at all.

* * *

The first two to spar was Koto and Lacey since they were the ones who knew each other's strength the most. Eraserhead had analyzed both of their fighting styles and the benefits and disadvantages of those fighting styles a long time ago.

Koto preferred using his armor to shrug off any long range hits, closing any gap between him and his opponent before using his sparks in close quarters combat to deliver unexpected blows or support his physical punches from his actual fists. The issues with his strategy being that he was under-utilizing his sparks and should an opponent have a powerful long range quirk that could keep him at bay, he would be whittled down, regardless of how powerful his electric armor was.

Lacey used a long range style of fighting, preferring to stray as far away from close quarters combat as possible. She would use her bubbles to block off or trap an incoming opponent before using her ability to lower their energy or hopefully make them fall asleep. While her quirk wasn't fully suited towards long range combat, she used it in unique ways to escape close quarters with her opponent. If an enemy came too close to her, she would block them off to try and gain more distance or would create a series of bubbles, popping each one after she passed, creating a path only she could follow. And if push came to shove, she was no joke in close quarters combat. She was able to use her toned physique to deliver powerful blows but they were often sloppy and hastily made, lessening the damage they would be able to do and leaving her wide open.

Knowing all this, Eraserhead made his prediction on the fight.

Lacey would try to influence Koto from afar and he would barrel through her bubbles using his enhanced strength and armor, closing the gap between them efficiently. From there, Lacey would be forced to engage in CQC where she would be overwhelmed by Koto's gauntlet strikes.

He decided it was enough analysis and took Pentei off to practice on his quirk while the others fought it out.

"Alright, make sure you two put in your all into this, you can only improve if you push yourself to your farthest point!" Toshi exclaimed, "Just make sure not to hurt each other too badly please." Lacey and Koto sweatdropped.

"Full power?" Koto asked.

"Full power!" Lacey answered.

They took their positions on opposite ends of the arena and the spar began. Lacey immediately created several bubbles in Koto's path as well as surrounding her as Koto dashed forward, beginning to create his electrical armor. Koto easily smashed through the weak shields with his powered-up punches, preventing Lacey from using her quirk to knock him out. Three more appeared in front of him and he just ran straight through them with his now fully developed armor. He couldn't let Lacey keep him boxed out or he would run out of energy, something she knew all too well. He had to break through her defences while not expending too much energy, and he searched for the most efficient route. Lacey had created the most bubbles immediately between them, directing him to attack from the sides, forcing him to expend more energy if he wanted to approach her. If he couldn't attack from the side or head on, then he would attack from above. Koto directed the stockpile of energy into his legs and he jumped over the line of bubbles in his path, completely negating Lacey's plan.

"I hope I'm not intruding," Koto shouted as he landed.

Koto devised a plan as he approached Lacey, _I'll feint with a left hook and switch it up with a punch to her right side_. Koto swung with his left fist before pulling the feint and attacking from the right. Lacey predicted the feint and blocked the punch before counterattacking, bringing her leg to Koto's stomach with a powerful blow. The sound of 'metal' scraping on firm muscle was not pleasant to anyone who heard it. Koto regained his balance and pushed forward, creating several gauntlets and sending them to attack Lacey from all sides. She couldn't block any more than three gauntlets and would be left wide open for a finishing blow. Koto charged forward as Lacey attempted to defend against the onslaught. She blocked gauntlet after gauntlet before she was overwhelmed.

_I can't hold him off! _Lacey thought. She was starting to panic as she tried to block hit after hit. She thoughts flashed to her emergency escape. _It's is my only chance, but I don't know if it will work, _Lacey hesitated long enough for two more punches to land in her abdomen and one more in her chin, _Better late than never!_

Lacey created a small bubble and hopped on it before expanding it at an incredible rate. She was shot upwards, before she created another bubble to catch herself, floating high above the arena. Eraserhead caught this in his peripheral vision and mentally noted to congratulate her on finding another unique way to apply her "weak quirk".

There wasn't much Koto could do to attack Lacey while she floated about 400 meters above and attempting to jump that high using his energy stockpile would definitely go over his current limit. He was forced to surrender after a couple minutes of avoiding Lacey's bubbles lowered his energy enough to drop his armor.

After the match had ended, Lacey and Koto walked over to Toshi and Recovery Girl for their minor injuries and exhaustion. Recovery Girl planted a kiss on Lacey's arms, healing the small cuts and bruises she had gotten from fending off Koto's gauntlets and making Lacey flush a deep red in embarrassment. She then handed out gummies to them both and they were left feeling less exhausted.

"That was an excellent display from both of you!" Toshi began, "Koto, you understood that Lacey's quirk wasn't suited towards close quarters combat and your attempt to overwhelm her was excellent! It was, however, quite easy to see through and a more experienced opponent could predict your attacks and put you in a very bad situation so try to be more varied and creative with your attacks." Koto nodded in understanding. "Lacey, that escape maneuver you performed was incredible!" Lacey blushed at the praise, "You understood you stood little chance against Koto's strength and moved to turn the tide of battle in your favor by making a quick escape.

"Hey, don't give her too much credit," Lacey turned to see Eraserhead and Pentei making their way to the rest of the group, "I can tell that your action was made out of panic as opposed to a planned choice. If you do become a hero, you have to be able to remain calm and think rationally in a fight." Lacey gave a small pout but nodded anyways.

"Anyways, I think we should start the next spar," Eraserhead said as he cleared his throat. The pro hero then proceeded to choose between the two with the incredibly delicate process of eeny-meeny-miney-moe. Everyone sweatdropped at the sight. Eraserhead landed on Koto, "Alright problem child, you can go against Pentei for the next spar."

The two chosen responded quickly, "Yes Sensei!"

* * *

This would be a much more interesting match, in Eraserhead's opinion at least. Two very powerful quirks that were obviously suited towards combat. On one hand, Pentei's quirk has long range capabilities that could potentially be used to keep Koto at bay but it could also be used in close quarters combat, if a bit stiffly at the moment. On the other hand, Koto's quirk is far more suited towards close quarters combat but as was just shown by Lacey and Koto's spar, he is able to use it to close the gap relatively easily by making incredible jumps. The important question, however, was how well he would be able to defend himself in the air against Pentei's lava.

Knowing this, Eraserhead made another prediction towards the progress and outcome of the fight. Pentei would attempt to box Koto out and envelop him with his lava, but due to Koto's strength, he would be able to break free. Koto would then use his enhanced muscles to avoid any subsequent attacks Pentei threw and would outdo Pentei in close quarters combat, winning the spar.

_This is a very similar prediction to the last round, _Eraserhead dully thought, _Hopefully I'm right about this one, or else I might be losing my edge._ Shaking himself from his thoughts, Eraserhead looked to watch the start of the spar.

* * *

"AND START!" Toshi's loud voice called.

Koto began forming his electrical armor and several gauntlets, ready to deflect and fend off any lava shots but to his surprise, Pentei charged straight towards the charged hero prospect.

_Pentei needs time to drag a good chunk of lava to the surface, so he must be preparing to use it as soon as we reach each other!_

Koto met Pentei head on with fully formed armor and four electric gauntlets accompanying him as lava broke through the ground. Pentei split his chunk of lava into five smaller pieces and threw four of them at each of his gauntlets, Koto maneuvered his gauntlets to avoid the projectiles, managing to have three avoid collision while the fourth become encompassed by a chunk of lava. Pentei quickly made his missed projectiles give chase to Koto's gauntlets, failing to see Koto rapidly approach him and sink an armored fist into his gut.

Pentei was dazed, to say the least. He just had an armored, powered up punch sink into his stomach. He spit up a little bit of his breakfast and jumped back to try and put some distance between them. Koto immediately gave chase, ready to give another of his powerful blows. Pentei willed his fifth piece of lava to block the punch and molded it to Koto's arm.

Now having Koto firmly trapped, Pentei lifted his arms. While it was unnecessary for Pentei to use his arms to control his lava (it had been for a year now), it gave his motions a dramatic flare that he wasn't too hesitant to show. Koto attempted to wrench his arm but found it was stuck, he looked up at Pentei and he saw his friend's large grin.

"You wouldn't."

"I would."

Pentei threw his arms up, sending Koto flying along with the ball of lava, before letting them drop, sending Koto careening towards the ground. He was then dragged along the ground harshly, a large crack in the concrete showing Koto's path. With a heavy grunt, Koto bounced himself off the ground and dug his heels into the concrete, putting all his effort into resisting Pentei's quirk. Koto formed several gauntlets and began attacking the lava; after a small amount of resistance, Koto's arm was freed. Seeing all of his available lava preoccupied, Koto rushed Pentei before he could restructure his offensive.

Pentei smiled, Koto had fallen into his trap. While it was true he could not measure anywhere close to Koto's electricity induced strength, he could manipulate lava to do his bidding. If he wanted to send it up, he could make lava do that. If he wanted it to harden, he could make lava do that. If he wanted to manipulate lava to surround himself, then harden it to create a powerful obsidian armor, he could do that. Koto froze as Pentei beckoned more lava to the surface, only to wrap it around himself. Sounds of hardening came from the lava cocoon and from it came a now giddy Pentei, covered in obsidian armor.

"If you can make armor, then why can't I?" Pentei quipped.

Koto stared before gathering himself, he responded, "Pentei…now THAT is cool, but I'm not one to be outdone" Koto shot off hundreds of sparks, each one turning into a white gauntlet while Pentei gathered all his remaining lava in preparation. He molded them into one giant floating blob of lava before forming one giant lava fist. "Let's see if your big fist, can stop my many little ones."

"With pleasure."

Both sides sent their 'armies' at each other as hundreds of gauntlets sailed into the giant lava fist as the commanders met each other once more in close quarters combat. Koto went for several quick jabs to test the durability of the obsidian armor. Pentei barely even gave the attacks any notice as he went for a wild uppercut. Dodging back, Koto darted to the side and lunged for an overhead with far more force than the previous jabs. Pentei understood that his armor can't brunt everything and ducked under the swing as Koto lowered himself to sweep Pentei's legs.

Pentei placed his hands on the ground behind him and vaulted his legs over Koto's sweep and drop kicked the exposed chest. Koto's armor was more than powerful and easily tanked the impact but left Koto reeling off balance. Pentei followed closely and placed several well timed jabs and kicks to Koto's limbs, keeping him from regaining balance.

Pentei was overjoyed, _I'm finally going to beat Koto! In every exercise, he's always outperformed both me and Lacey, but now I'm going to beat him!_ Pentei threw one last overhead punch towards Koto's falling, unprotected head, Koto couldn't dodge, not while off balance and falling towards the ground.

_SHIT! I have to do something! Anything! This is going to hurt… _Panic encompassed Koto as he saw Pentei's fist connect with his head before he felt his mind take a literal backseat and his body go on autopilot.

With excellent proficiency, 'Koto' lowered his hands towards the ground and formed two gauntlets connecting him to the ground. He thrust himself off using the gauntlets and weaved around Pentei's fist, raising one of the two gauntlets and brutally delivering a fierce uppercut. Pentei's momentum forced him to continue forward and 'Koto' sidestepped the dazed boy before wrapping his arms around his waist and giving Pentei an electrically charged suplex.

Recovery Girl, Toshi, Lacey, and Eraserhead all watched as Koto turned around a seemingly hopeless situation and devastatingly bury Pentei into the concrete with a suplex, burying him in the ground with small cracks fracturing from the point of impact. The floating lava Pentei had commandeered all fell to the ground, limp and the spar was called. Toshi and Recovery Girl rushed over towards Pentei while Koto briskly walked away towards Lacey.

"Damn, kid. You knocked him out cold with that move," Eraserhead said with mild surprise hidden behind his neutral expression. 'Koto' didn't respond and took Lacey off to the side.

"I need to talk to you," Koto said in a deeper tone.

"That was crazy Koto! You just suplexed Pentei into the ground!" Lacey screamed at Koto in worry before looking over her shoulder, relieved at seeing that Recovery Girl had just begun her healing on the knocked out teen.

"I don't remember your name, but Koto tells me it's Lacey, right?" 'Koto' said.

Lacey looked at Koto like he had two heads, "Wait, what do you mean 'Koto told you'?"

'Koto' smiled. But it wasn't one of Koto's beaming smiles or sarcastic smirks. It was a creepy grin that gave Lacey a chill down her spine.

"It's been a while since we last saw each other in the meadow, hasn't it?"

* * *

The training was called short due to Pentei's healthy breakfast of cement and Eraserhead and Recovery Girl head back into UA to prepare for their school day, Eraserhead grumbling something about problem children. Toshi had carried Pentei to the car, more than terrified about the earful he was going to get from Pentei's mother, when he was approached by Lacey.

"We have a serious problem." She pulled Toshi to a still armored 'Koto' who spoke in a deeper tone.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Mr. Yagi. I've already been acquainted with Lacey by a past meeting in the meadow, but I believe we should start by addressing the problem," 'Koto' spoke, "My name is Xatl, and I am one of the souls that live in Koto's body." Xatl stuck his hand out for a handshake. Toshi did not return it and merely gawked at what he had been told. Another of Koto's souls had taken over his body.

Toshi began to panic, and let his anger take over his rational thoughts, "WHAT! How dare you take over my son's body! Bring him back RIGHT NOW!"

"Believe me, I would love to, but Koto seems to be unable to come back right now," Xatl completely ignored the threatening tone, "But I can assure you, I did not take control of his body by my own volition. So I suggest you calm down before someone gets hurt," Xatl answered coldly.

Toshi couldn't believe it, he, the number one hero, had been threatened by his own son. In his anger he buffed up to his hero form and towered over Xatl. Lacey swallowed her anxiety and stepped between the two incredibly powerful members of her family, "Both of you, stop it!" The two stared down at her in surprise, neither knew she could bark like that. "I'm angry too, dad, but more than that, I'm scared. I just want to get Koto back and beating up Xatl is not going to help." Toshi understood her reasoning and reverted back to his skeleton like appearance, but he was still mad. "Now, if we're going to get Koto back, we need to know as much as possible, so answer everything you can. And I mean. Everything. You. Can." Lacey drove her finger into Xatl's chest and Xatl's cold expression cracked a bit underneath the helmet. Not that he would ever admit to it.

"So, can Koto hear us right now?"

Xatl nodded, Lacey gave a sigh of relief knowing Koto could understand what was going on.

"Where is he right now? Is he in the meadow?"

Another nod.

"How did you take over his body?"

Xatl thought for a moment before answering, "I'm not entirely sure, but Koto believes it's because he was so panicked at the moment before he got hit that he granted me control over his body." Lacey opened her mouth to speak. "And no, for some reason he can't retake control if I give it to him, I've already tried."

"Huh? Why not?" Toshi jumped in the conversation.

"I'm not sure, but Koto has a feeling it has to do with some sort of recuperative method taken by his body," Xatl explained, looking rather bored.

Lacey and Toshi stared in confusion, prompting a sigh from Xatl. "His body can't handle the stress of switching souls constantly," he paused, "And now that I think about it, his body feels exhausted right now."

Xatl collapsed almost immediately after, while Lacey and Toshi gawked in shock. "Well? Are you going to help me up?" The two were both taken from their shock and went to carry Koto to the car, sitting him down in the back alongside an unconscious Pentei.

After getting into the car themselves, they took off towards Pentei's home to drop him off. They attempted to make small talk amongst themselves, but the gravity of the situation weighed on the atmosphere. Occasionally, Lacey would turn to look at Xatl who was looking out the window at the passing cityscape with a rather bored expression. Aside from the obvious change in demeanor, there were several changes that caught Lacey's attention. Xatl seemed taller, around 6'1" in height compared to Koto's 6'0", he also looked to have lost some mass, (as much as 20 kg, they would later find out), but the most daunting change was the presence of red streaks of electricity covering Koto's face, originating from his now red eyes.

After they had dropped off the still unconscious Pentei to an understandably furious mother and father, they made their way to their own home. After stepping foot into the oversized house, they realized they still had school.

"What are we gonna do?!" Lacey practically screamed, "We can't take Xatl to school! Not like this!"

"We'll just have to call him in sick," Toshi quickly gave an answer to calm the hysterical girl down. He pulled out his phone and began to dial the school's number. He was about four digits in when Xatl swiped his phone.

"First of all, rude. I'm right here you know," Xatl quipped, "Secondly, Koto has told me he can't afford to miss school today."

"What? Why not?" They both asked.

Xatl stopped, as if debating with himself before giving off a sigh and mumbling _are you freaking kidding me. _"He says that Tensei wanted to speak with him after school today. Alone."

"Can't it wait?" Toshi couldn't believe this, his son's body has been hijacked by another one of his son's souls and even now, Koto still wants to help his friend before himself.

"No." The response was quick and left no room for negotiation. Xatl walked off to prepare for the long day ahead of him.

_You sure about this? _Xatl asked.

_Not really, _Koto began, _but I don't have too much of a choice. We don't know how long this will be for and I don't want our friends freaking out._

Xatl just sighed while he packed the schoolbag, while the reasoning was based on uncertainties, Koto was right when he said neither of them knew how long this would last. So if it lasts for a week or more, he should probably get used to interacting with other people. _Is this really what my mentorship has come to? Pretending to be the reason for my existence just so his friends don't get worried? _Xatl shook his head in disbelief, _I don't get paid enough for this._

* * *

Pentei was carried by his mother, who was screaming and ranting about how irresponsible Toshi was, to his bed. She left the room and Pentei shot straight up. He looked around in confusion and recalled everything that had happened, trying to piece together whatever the hell he just saw.

He was sparring with Koto and was about to win thanks to the defense boost his obsidian armor provided when Koto somehow turned the situation around and suplexed him straight into the cement. He can't remember anything from there for a while so he assumed he was knocked unconscious. He then woke up in the back of Toshi's car and had a prime view of his best friend with red streaks down his face saying that he was a different person. He also saw Toshi, a skeleton of a man who had adopted his two best friends, inflate himself into All Might, the number one hero. He was more than sure he wasn't supposed to know either of these secrets.

Pentei stared forward, he didn't know what to think anymore. All Might was frail being, not the pillar of heroism, and his best friend's eyes had held nothing but cold anger. Koto would never have such a look of pure anger that would make any man shiver. Pentei began to hyperventilate, he couldn't handle the weight of these questions.

* * *

Sento had just woken up and was groggily walking down the hallway towards the kitchen. He passed door after door on his way, his mother and father's room, the bathroom, the closet, and then Pentei's room. His big brother hasn't always been the strongest person. He had realized this over the last five years after seeing his own guilt break away at him. And it never applied more than when he walked past Pentei's room that day. He heard a muffled sound behind the wooden door. _Pentei is supposed to already be at school. Did something happen at training?_ Sento had taken it upon himself to be the pillar that Pentei would need to make him his very best, and he opened the door. He was greeted to a delirious Pentei crying softly in the corner of his room, clearly worn down from exhaustion. Whether Pentei was exhausted from the training or crying, he couldn't tell.

"Pentei?" Sento asked softly.

Pentei looked up, a guilty look on his face. _Ah,_ Sento thought, _it must be one of the bad days then._ Ever since his best friend's life-threatening injury, Pentei had never been able to completely forgive himself, even after the exact same friend told him he never held him accountable and never resented him, going so far as to thank him for his actions. Sento sat down next to his big brother and said nothing, offering the comfort of knowing someone was just there. It was what he always had done to help Pentei, sometimes Pentei would talk, sometimes he wouldn't, but he would always thank him for just staying there with him. So Sento was surprised when Pentei abruptly stood up and walked out of the room, an angry and terrified look on his face.

Sento got up and followed after his brother, asking what was wrong and how he could help, but Pentei didn't respond. Neither brother noticed they had stepped out of the house and were walking aimlessly on the roads.

Eventually, Pentei stopped. "So even when I can't face him, I come back to the place we met? I really am pathetic."

Sento finally took notice of his surroundings, they were at the park. The same park where Pentei would take him to when they were younger. The same park where he had met Koto and Lacey.

Pentei sat on the grass. Sento followed his brother's actions and sat beside him. They sat in silence before Pentei screamed in frustration and gripped both sides of his head.

"Goddammit!" He screamed, "I don't know what to do! I don't know what to think!"

Finally seeing that his brother was ready to talk, Sento pushed for answers, "Did something happen at training?"

Pentei placed his head in his hands and sighed, letting his frustration and feelings of confusion out in a quieter way, "I found out secrets about my friends that I don't think I'm supposed to know, and it's scaring me. I don't know if my friends are who I think they are and I'm scared that I'll lose them," he let out a shiver at the thought of the cold gaze of Koto's eyes.

_This is completely different from normal, I don't know how to handle this._

"Just because a person has their own secrets, doesn't mean that they aren't who they are. Everyone has secrets, Pentei. Even you." Pentei opened his mouth to protest, "Or do you want me to tell your friends about Fluffmaster?" Pentei shut his mouth quickly with a small red burning on his cheeks. "No matter what secrets people may hold, they are still the same people."

Pentei sighed, "Thanks bro."

A comfortable silence fell between the two brothers.

"Wait don't you have to go to school?!"

"Don't you?!"

* * *

Xatl and Lacey walked into their homeroom class, with the latter more than anxious about the day and the former just annoyed at his situation. Fortunately, Xatl didn't have to tap into his Koto crash course just yet, since his classmates were all too scared of Koto to even dare look at him.

_Jeez kid, I know you told me they were scared of you, but you never told me they pissed their pants in fear, _Xatl smirked.

_I don't really care what these idiots think. They lost that privilege when they harassed Lacey, Koto's 'voice' took on a furious tone._

_Alright, I see why they're scared of you. You're like a mother bear._

_Oh piss off._

Most of their classes passed by regularly, since no one even dared to talk to 'Koto' but then came lunch. Lacey dragged Xatl to their lunch table where Tensei was already waiting. And if Xatl was right, Tensei had a sad look on his face that he quickly covered behind a comfortable smile as they approached.

This would be their greatest threat. Tensei Tensei.

"Hello Lacey and Koto, how was your morning training?" Tensei asked innocently.

"IT WAS FINE." Lacey blurted out, sweating heavily, "NOTHING BAD HAPPENED."

"What she means is, it was nothing special. That is, if you don't consider me burying Pentei in the ground with a suplex as nothing special." 'Koto' stepped in to try and help Lacey out of her corner she put herself in.

Tensei gave Lacey a confused look before disregarding her strange behavior, "So is Pentei ok? I know how strong you both are, but you can deal some very powerful blows Koto. Did you forget that you nearly broke down a wall with a half power punch?"

_This is going well,_ Lacey thought, _we can pull this off._

"Before you answer, Are you feeling alright? You've been acting off and your eyes are red. Are you sick? If you are then you should go home and rest."

_This is not going well._

They knew Xatl's disguise wasn't the best because of how quickly it was made, but Tensei saw through it almost immediately. While they could teach Xatl how to act and sound like Koto and use Lacey's small makeup stash to cover the jagged red lines that spread across Xatl's face, they couldn't hide Xatl's vibrant crimson eyes on such short notice and Xatl could never truly mimic Koto.

The three teens stared at one another without saying a word. The uncomfortable silence was almost unbearable, the sounds of the crowded lunchroom being Lacey's only saving grace preventing her from having a panic attack.

Lacey let out a nervous chuckle, "W-Well, the t-thing is-"

"Yeah, I caught something overnight, but we checked it out and its nothing contagious. I feel fine enough and it should be gone by tomorrow, so there's no need to worry," Xatl cut in. If Tensei learned of Koto's quirk, things would go south _very_ quickly.

_That was the wrong thing to say, Xatl,_ Koto chimed in.

_Then what was the right thing to say?! _Xatl shot back.

_I would've just made a sarcastic comment about how it would affect my 'perfect' reputation._

_You joke about your own health like that? Kid, what the hell is wrong with you? _Xatl did not want to deal with this. He wanted to go back to the meadow and just lay in the grass, but no, Koto panicked and now he has to deal with his overly observant friend.

"Alright then, if you are sure that you're feeling well, then I won't ask any further," Tensei responded.

_That went better than expected, _Xatl sweatdropped.

The rest of lunch passed without any more incidents and the two Yagis began to make their way towards their history class. As they passed students in the hallway, any previous topics were immediately forgotten in favor of the school's resident powerhouse and his little sister.

"He's even scarier today,"

"People say he got that scar from a fight against a hero,"

"Why does that Tensei kid hang out with them?"

With every comment, Xatl patience was cut shorter. If this is what these two had to deal with constantly everyday in school, he could see why Koto turned into a sarcastic punk. Though he was amazed at how well Lacey was handling the gossiping and rude comments. From what he remembered, the last time they met, she was practically shaking in fear and embarrassment. Well, it's nice to know she's got some form of backbone.

"He's probably a freak like those two are,"

"Alright! I've been nice enough to ignore you dumbasses until now, but who the hell just called us freaks?!" Xatl shouted. No one dared to answer and the entire hallway was silenced. Satisfied with the response, Xatl continued walking to his class. He opened the door and the regular chatter of a classroom filled the hall as he walked in and shut the door behind him.

* * *

Five minutes remained until the nightmare would end and Xatl could just wait the rest of this torture out. The class had ended and the students were now biding their time for the final bell, ready to ditch the school and spend their weekend doing whatever they so choose. Xatl was sitting in his desk, resting his head in his hands and doing whatever he could to pass the time while Lacey did the same in the desk next to him.

_Alright, Tensei should be waiting for us on the roof, so tell Lacey to wait by the front gate for me-I mean you-us... whatever you want to call this, _Koto told Xatl.

_Whatever you say kid, _Xatl responded, _Anyways, you figure out anything while you're in there?_

_Not really. This place is just a never-ending field. It's kind of-_

_Don't you dare finish that thought, _Xatl growled, _I don't want to hear anymore sarcastic comments from you. Not. One. More. It's already too much to deal with you in the meadow._

_Fine, fine, I won't say one more sarcastic thing… I'll say two. _Xatl could _FEEL_ the snarky smirk Koto was giving.

_The next time I see you in the meadow, I swear I'm gonna kill you. _Koto sweatdropped (figuratively (?)).

Xatl was tapped on the shoulder, he looked over and saw Lacey flailing her arms, motioning for him to… stop? He noticed the usual classroom chatter was gone and looked around. Every single student was staring at him with fear in their eyes, even the teacher was sweating nervously. Confused, he started to look for why before he noticed his desk was now cracked in two straight down the middle as a result of his death grip. The bell rang and Xatl hid the mild surprise on his face behind a blank look, standing up to head to the roof. As he left, everyone let out a collective breath of relief.

Xatl made his way to the school roof with Koto's directions. He opened the door to see Tensei standing there waiting for him with a depressed look on his face. A slight breeze blew past them and the squeak of the door opening alerted Tensei to Xatl's entrance. Xatl walked forwards but neither teen said anything, choosing instead to look out over the rest of the students leaving. They stood their for five minutes without saying anything, all while Koto tried to prevent Xatl from getting furious at Tensei for doing nothing.

"I don't think I'm going to apply for UA. I don't think I deserve to."

That shut both Xatl and Koto up as they stared at Tensei with looks of surprise. Well, Xatl did, Koto kind of just saw the image in his head and stared forward.

"We've never talked about our quirks, have we Koto?" Tensei didn't want to look at his friend's disappointment, "My quirk: **Tracker**, lets me place a mental tracker on any person I want to and no matter what they do, or how far they get, the only way to get rid of it is if I want it to disappear."

Koto could only wonder where this was going and why he looked so sad about it, _Why is he telling me this now? What does this have to do with applying to UA?_

"I transferred into this school this year, and before you two approached me, no one else even wanted to talk to me, and it's all because of my stupid quirk," Xatl said nothing and let Tensei vent, "Two years ago, I saw that one of my classmates had dropped her purse in class and left without it. I used my quirk to track her but she got on the shuttle before I could get to her and I couldn't reach her, so I used my quirk to track her down to her home and give it back to her."

"I don't see the problem. You did a nice thing for her," Xatl added.

"But the look on her face, she was so scared that I knew where she lived, no matter what I did to try and explain myself. The next day, people attacked me. They called me a pervert and a molester and beat me almost every day. No one tried to help, not even my own friends," Tensei looked down, anger and disappointment clear on his face. He was gripping his hands tightly in a fist, his knuckles turning white. Soft sobs wracked his body; the abuse he endured was worse than he said, "I don't want to go through that again, all I have is a quirk that lets me become a stalker."

Tensei turned to leave and walked towards the door when he felt a hand grip his shoulder tightly and turn him around. He faced piercing crimson eyes and an angry scowl as the grip on his shoulder grew tighter.

"I don't care what they said or did, but you aren't what they say you are," Xatl growled, "They're the trash and you're the hero. You're socially awkward and way too serious but goddammit you're a hero at heart, so don't you fucking dare just give up," Xatl jabbed his finger into Tensei's chest.

"But what if more peo-" Tensei began.

"Do you really think Lacey and I would just let that happen? Whoever your friends were, they weren't your friends. They never were if they were willing to let you suffer like that," Xatl was pissed. Most people these days were utter garbage and didn't deserve protection, but the people like Tensei needed people to support them, and his friends just dropped him on the ground and joined in on the fun. "You better get into UA, Tensei, or else I'll be pissed that I won't have to listen to your bullshit every day. You got that?!"

Tensei nodded and Xatl started walking away before he turned to face Tensei, the sun behind him, casting him with a natural glow, "I'll see you in UA."

Xatl went to open the door but his arm wouldn't move. He tried to move his legs or other arm and none of them moved. He felt very tired and collapsed.

* * *

Koto opened his eyes and found himself thrown over a worried Tensei's shoulder with every sore muscle in existence, _Guess I have control again. How long has it been? Eight hours? Better tell Tensei before he panics. _"Tensei, I'm all good, you don't need to worry about me," Tensei looked up at him in disbelief, "If you just put me down here, I'll meet up with Lacey and head home."

"DON'T NEED TO WORRY?! You collapsed like you were made of lead!" Tensei shouted, not letting Koto down.

"Just trust me on this one Tensei, I'm completely fine. If you just put me down, I'll show you that I can walk just as good as I talk," Koto really needed to stop Tensei before he alerted someone about his… condition.

Tensei thought for a minute before reluctantly agreeing and putting Koto down. Koto's legs screamed in protest but he played it off with a smirk and calm eyes. After triple checking that his friend was completely fine, they both said their goodbyes and left. Koto reached the end of the hallway before Tensei called back to him and ran up to him.

"Hey Koto," Tensei started, the tension visibly leaving his body, "Thanks."

* * *

After meeting up with Lacey at the front gate and getting one of the tightest hugs he's ever gotten from the short girl, Koto left for his shuttle home. After meeting up with Toshi at the station and getting one of the tightest hugs he's ever gotten from ALL MIGHT, they all left for home. Koto and Lacey did their homework and hung out like nothing strange ever happened that day. They watched a couple movies on the couch and by the end of the third one, Lacey had passed out and was unknowingly using Koto as a pillow. Not soon after, Koto drifted off and found himself in the meadow with Xatl.

_Never took you for a softy_, Koto teased.

_Oh, fuck off._

* * *

**Notes:**

Sorry for the long wait, but chapter seven is finally here!

The conversation with Tensei was a little awkward to write but I'm pretty happy with it so I think it's good (?).

Anyways, I felt like I was rushing the last couple of chapters to get them out in time and I had to keep cutting them short or cutting quality so from now on, I will be releasing one chapter every two weeks on Friday.

Thanks for reading and let me know what you think, regardless of whether its positive or negative!

\- RandomA99


	8. The Entrance Exams

The Tragic Hero: Lightning Knight

Chapter 8: The Entrance Exams

* * *

The last months before the UA entrance exams were very calm when compared to the disaster that was Xatl's visit in Koto's body three months prior. Everything fell into the normal rhythm again: wake up, eat breakfast, go to school, train with Eraserhead and Toshi at UA, go home, eat dinner, do homework, hang out, and go to bed. It wasn't a very interesting rhythm but it was one that Koto and Lacey were more than happy to go about until finally, the entrance exams arrived.

Lacey woke up before Koto (as usual) and walked out to the kitchen to start breakfast since out of the three of them, she was the only one who could actually cook. She cracked several eggs and made scrambled eggs for Toshi and fried eggs for Koto. Alongside some bacon and a nice toasted bagel, they would have more than enough food and energy for the entrance exam today. And as she usually does, while she cooked breakfast, she thought about what the day had in store for her and Koto.

_It's Sunday, so after breakfast we don't have school, but we do have the UA entrance exams today so I should wake up Koto sooner rather than later so he's not too sleepy for it._

_The entrance exam..._

_The UA entrance exam…_

_UA… Entrance… Exam… Today…_

To say that Koto wanted to wake up to Lacey screaming in panic would be a lie, but it was hardly the worst way he's been woken up before. No, that honor would belong to getting a terrifying turtle pinch on his ear and essentially being dragged out of bed by the ear when he didn't want to wake up. Koto winced at the memory as he ran down to the kitchen to calm Lacey down. Bursting into the tiled and wooden room, Koto did not expect to with Lacey frantically making eggs and bacon while screaming in what could only be described as panic.

Koto shouted over her panic, "Lacey, what's wrong?" Lacey didn't hear him, mumbling quietly _not ready _over and over to herself. "Lacey I need you to speak to me, tell me what's wrong," still no result. A quick breath and Koto put his hands on Lacey's shoulders, and drew her into a hug, trying to calm her down. They stayed still for two minutes as Lacey came back from her panic attack. After she had calmed down, Koto asked her one more time, "Are you gonna tell me what got you so freaked out you started mumbling to yourself?"

Lacey looked Koto in the eyes and mumbled, "The UA entrance exams are today!"

Of all the things Toshinori expected to see when he walked into the kitchen, seeing his two kids mumbling to themselves in panic was not one of them.

* * *

Koto was walking down the block towards the entrance gate of UA with Lacey at his side, shoving all his panic down to the back of his mind, convincing himself that he was ready for this challenge. He looked down at his phone, looking through the group chat between Koto, Lacey, Tensei, and Pentei.

**Bubbles**: 'I can't believe that the entrance exam is already here!'

**HotStud**: 'I know right?!'

**YSoSerious**: 'Before we take the exam, let's all meet up at the front gate to wish each other luck in person'

**HotStud**: 'Sure thing, dude'

**Sparky has changed the nickname of 'Bubbles' to 'FluffyBunny'**

**FluffyBunny**: 'Could you stop changing my nickname to that?!

**FluffyBunny**: 'It's embarrassing...'

**Sparky**: 'Nope'

Koto snickered to himself as he walked through the crowd of teenagers, all of them handling themselves in a different way. Most of the people Koto saw were beyond nervous, some had a confident look on their face, and others just walked in with a happy smile on their face, ignorant to the stress around them.

"YO!" Koto heard a familiar voice scream over the masses, "KOTO! LACEY! OVER HERE!"

Making their way to the loud shout, which wasn't hard to do considering Koto's height, they met up with Tensei and Pentei with their friends being anxious and excited respectively. Pentei's blue and red hair swaying along with his excited bounces while Tensei stood off to the side, sweat dropping at Pentei's display.

"So," Koto began, "You guys ready for this?"

"Ready?! We've been training for this thing for six years! If were not ready now, we'll never be ready!" Pentei exclaimed.

"That's the spirit!" Koto shouted, "Now, In one weeks time, I better see the top four spots be taken by all of us, got it?" The three other teenagers nodded in affirmation as Koto continued, "But I'll be the one to take the top spot."

The ground beneath them visibly heated up as Pentei accepted Koto's implied challenge. Koto glared at Pentei and Pentei shot a glare back. Tensei already knew what that meant. Whoever lost had to do something stupid, and since they're going to a new school, it meant they'll do it in front of their new classmates.

"There is no way in hell that I am getting involved in this bet," Both Pentei and Koto's heads swiveled in Tensei's direction immediately as they used their superior height to loom ominously over him with a terrifying look in their eyes and smiles on their faces.

Lacey's anxiety filled voice cut into the conversation, "I'm not sure if I can do this, my quirk doesn't exactly excel in combat," she looked up to see Pentei's worried gaze and Koto's irritated look, "B-But I'm sure I'll be fine!" _Nice one Lacey! Now Koto's going to be worried about you while he takes his own test!_

Koto just sighed in desperation, "You don't need your quirk to engage in combat because one: Eraserhead has already said this multiple times, two: you kicked my ass several times in our spars, and three: you have the most muscles I've seen since All Might," Koto smiled mischievously, "Do I need to show them off for you again?"

Lacey and Tensei's faces turned beet red as Pentei innocently asked, "Wait, again?"

* * *

The four teens made their way to the auditorium for their briefing on what the entrance exam would entail. The seating was arranged by school so the three remaining teens said their goodbyes to Pentei as he went to take his own seat. After ten minutes passed for everyone to get seated and get themselves settled, the lights dimmed and the stage lights flared to life. Fog machines hidden behind red velvety curtains poured an ominous fog over the stage, allowing only a shadow to be visible through it. As the fog began to part and the figure slowly became more visible, their suspense for the mystery presenter steadily rose, and out from the fog stepped Eraserhead with a bored, irritated, and gloomy look on his face, dressed in his fashionable yellow sleeping bag.

Every student in the entire auditorium cartoonishly collapsed to the ground with the exception of Lacey, Koto, and Pentei who all sweatdropped at the ridiculous look of Eraserhead and had one similar thought,

_Yup, that's Eraserhead alright. But why is he presenting?_

"Alright, let's get this over with," Eraserhead droned in his signature monotone voice, "Normally, this would be handled by the Voice Hero: Present Mic, but he has a sore throat today," the prospective students cartoonishly collapsed again, and this time the three unofficial students of Eraserhead joined. "Anyways, the UA entrance exam will be comprised of two parts, a written portion which will feature both multiple choice and essay questions on different subjects such as math, english, science, as well as present you with theoretical situations a hero would find themselves in and how to solve them. Afterwards, you will be thrown into the practical exam which will have groups of students separated into mock cities where you will fight mock villains, each of which are worth different point values, being one, two, and three points respectively. Your goal is to collect as many points as possible before time runs out."

A hand shot up in the back of the audience and every student in the room sank into their seats at the fierceness of Eraserhead's glare, "Save your questions until I'm done talking," he said through gritted teeth and a neutral expression… somehow.

"Good. Now, there is a fourth kind of robot that is worth zero points, it's there purely as an obstacle and there is no merit in taking it down. You will know which section you will be in by the large letter on your ID cards. That is all."

After his long and monotone speech, pro hero Eraserhead sank to the floor in his yellow sleeping bag and immediately fell asleep, leaving behind an entire confused auditorium of students.

Koto turned towards Lacey, "He lasted longer than I expected."

* * *

The written portion of the exam was no match for the rigorous tutoring method of Lacey Yagi. Every day, the two adopted siblings would spend two hours drilling any and all potentially important information into Koto's head. Every day since they began training when they were nine years old, on weekends, on rest days, and on holidays, nothing got in the way of their goal. Koto learned ancient history, japanese culture, science, quirk science (that one was more for him than anything), and many different types of math, including calculus. To say that Koto was prepared for the exam was an understatement.

Even with the long preparation for this exam, Koto still took an hour and a half of the allotted two hours of time to complete the exam, which when compared to the other prospective students was incredibly impressive, considering how the majority completed the exam with less than five minutes maximum to spare. But compared to Lacey, he was sure she took barely an hour to complete the exam.

_Jeez, even if I'm physically stronger than her, there's no way I'd match up to her intellect. She always knows what to do. But it's still crazy fun to tease her! How does someone even get that red? But she is pretty cute when she's all flustered like tha- wait what?_

Saving him from his mental crisis, the bell rang to signify the end of the written exam. The remaining students still taking the test placed down their pencils with a huff, clearly unhappy with their performance. A couple of them growled in frustration.

One kid outright cried.

* * *

Koto had been placed in Arena B while Pentei and Tensei had gone to Arena A and Lacey had been placed in Arena E. Koto suggested they work together but both completely refused, saying they wanted to get in through their own merit. Koto shrugged, they had a prime opportunity for the taking but it's their decision in the end. He was waiting in front of the massive gates with an entire faux city laid in front of him. Students around him were commenting on the sheer size of it and the fact that UA had MULTIPLE of these giant cities for the sole purpose of testing prospective students.

_Well, it's not all that expensive when you have a hero like Cementoss working for the school. I'm willing to bet it took him all of ten minutes for each of these cities, _Koto chuckled to himself.

He looked at the students around him, there were some interesting ones to say the least. Koto saw someone with demon like wings, a girl with a literal rocket launcher for an arm, and a VERY tall guy, probably taller than All Might if he were to guess. Without warning, an alarm blared and the gates opened. Most of the kids looked around at each other in confusion before the tired voice of Eraserhead came over the speakers, _"Don't tell me I have to do this for every Arena…" _A long and drawn out sigh is heard, _"Quit being irrational and start the exam, unless you want to let that kid get all the points, in which case, go ahead, I really don't care what you do." _The mass of students looked past the gates to see Koto already battling and decimating several robots, spurring them to rush into the arena.

Koto sprinted as soon as he heard the alarm blare, quickly meeting a group of five robots head on and engaging them. He spawned four gauntlets and sent them in the direction of four of the robots before charging at the final robot himself. The robot attempted to strike him with its scorpion-like tail but he effortlessly dodged it, gripped it, and ripped it off before using it to impale the robot, prompting its explosion. Soon after its quick and painless explosion, the other four followed suit, being crushed and fried by Koto's electrical gauntlets. He charged ahead in search of other targets to destroy. Looking back he saw the other test takers listening to Eraserhead's announcement to get moving.

Running down the main street he met a large group of nine robots, with two of them being like the scorpion robot Koto had challenged head on, four of them having what looked like a minigun on their arms, and three of them looking like straight up tanks. Koto formed his armor as the minigun robots laid fire on Koto, the rubber bullets unable to really phase him. Koto spawned several gauntlets and set one in front of him and sending the others to start destroying the others. Koto jumped into the palm of the gauntlet and used it to launch himself above the robots, coming down with a brutal axe kick that completely cleaved one of the tank-like robots in half. He turned to face two minigun robots, meeting rubber bullets head on and delivering a punch to one of the robots 'midsection' before following it up with a right uppercut that tore the robots head from its body and using the momentum from his punch to launch himself from the remains of the robot, plowing through the other, leaving a large hole through its chassis.

Looking around, the other robots in the entire area were destroyed and the test takers had finally caught up with him, stopping and looking at the armored teen in awe and fear at the utter carnage before them. Koto joke saluted to them before heading off to find more targets.

* * *

Lacey was anxiously waiting for the practical exam to start, looking around her she saw the other test takers stretching and warming up for the task ahead. Lacey tried to calm herself down by mumbling to herself, _you can do this, you got this, you can do this, you got this, you can_\- a hand laid on her shoulder and she jumped in surprise and shrieked. Turning around she was face to chest with a girl with short cut, white hair and cyan eyes. Looking down to where her hand was still on Lacey's shoulder, she saw star shaped marks on the girl's knuckles.

"I heard you mumbling to yourself," The girl looked around where most people were looking at the two of them in confusion, "I think we ALL heard," Lacey's face burned bright red in embarrassment. "But you don't have to be nervous, I'm sure you'll do great!"

Lacey looked up at the girl, seeing a bright and cheery smile staring down at her. "Maybe… but it's still so nerve-wracking! The thing I've been training for six years is finally here and I'm just freaking out! What if I can't take down these robots?" Lacey gasped, "What if I fail?! Oh no, oh no, ohnoohnoohnoohnoohnoohnoohnoohnoohnoohnoohnoohnoohnoohno-"

The white haired girl waved her hand in front of the muttering girl, amused by the sheer tension the girl was emitting, before the alarm blared, beginning the practical exam for Arena E. Lacey's anxiety induced mumbling immediately ended and in its place was sheer determination as she ran through the gates, emitting a small bubble in the ground, jumping on top of it before expanding it, launching her into the sky and across the arena. The test takers looked at the shrinking form of the girl in surprise.

One teen turned to the white haired girl and asked, "Did the ball of anxiety just fly off into the sky?" The girl didn't answer, instead clutching her fist and running into the Arena herself, the sound of Eraserhead's announcement trailing behind her, _"Ugggggggghhhhhhh… Just go."_

Lacey searched the streets for any robots on the ground as she soared through the sky. Spotting a group, she emit a bubble, landing on it before she allowed herself to hurdle to the ground, landing on top of a three pointer, flattening the head in the process. She quickly looked at the robots surrounding her, four two pointers, a three pointer, three one pointers, and beneath her feet, a destroyed three pointer. She flipped off the destroyed three pointer, landing in between two one pointer and a two pointer. The two pointer stabbed its tail towards Lacey as the one pointers opened fire at her. Lacey expanded a bubble, leaping over the attacks while the robots destroyed each other.

Lacery landed behind the last one pointer, drew her right arm back and emit a bubble behind her, expanding it and giving her arm incredible force which allowed her to create a sizable dent in the one pointers. The robot shut down after having its battery crushed. Two of the three remaining two points thrust at Lacey, forcing her to seal herself in a bubble to fend off the attacks. The attacks clashed with the bubble, popping it, but giving Lacey enough time to dart around one of the two pointers and deliver a round-a-bout kick forcing it onto the tail of the other two pointer. The three pointer didn't even bother to aim and fired in Lacey's direction, obliterating the final two pointer.

Lacey looked at the final robot before 'cursing' to herself (no, dangit does not count as a curse word). The three pointer's armor was too thick for any of her kicks or punches to make any notable damage. She looked back at the flattened head of the other three pointer, _better than just standing here,_ she thought. Lacey emit a bubble above the robot and expanded it quickly, slamming it onto its head. It crushed it slightly but it wasn't enough to destroy it, but it was enough to destroy its optical sensors. The tank-like robot began charging forward firing in every direction in an attempt to hit a target. Lacey heard cries of fear and looked around her. She saw that other students had caught up to her and were dueling other robots before small sized explosions began destroying everything near them.

The three pointer shot in the direction of a boy and was about to collide before Lacey emit a bubble, saving the boy from the painful explosion. She looked around, seeing three more shots heading to other people. Emitting more bubbles to block them, she felt her quirk starting to strain and her body feeling the fatigue of it. She couldn't continue to make bubbles nonstop but she couldn't let others get hit. The process continued for a minute before finally, the white haired girl from before showed up and utterly decimated the three pointer, turning it into much less than scrap metal.

"Oh my god, thank you," Lacey's shoulders drooped in relief, "I was getting so tired."

"It was no problem," the white haired girl said, "It's the least I could do after you got me to move at the start," she stuck her hand out, "I'm Ann Front."

Lacey met Ann's hand with her own, "I-It's nice to meet you, I-I'm Lacey Yagi, I would love to keep talking b-but we have an exam to finish."

Ann gave a bright smile and a small nod before charging down the street in search of more robots. She reached the corner and turned around yelling, "I'll see you in class Lacey!"

A small smile creeped on Lacey's face before she ran into a side alley, looking for more robots to bash.

* * *

Pentei and Tensei were talking to one another in the waiting area in front of the gate. At this point, they both just wanted this to be over so they could go home and rest.

"The written exam was brutal! I finished with only a minute left!" Pentei's normally excited and energetic demeanor was replaced with a tired and defeated voice.

"It should be expected of UA since this is one of the best hero schools. I finished my own exam with seven minutes remaining but in my room, only three other people were able to finish on time, so you should not be worried about finishing with so little time," Tensei reassures.

"I know but… it's still kind of crazy how an exam can be _that_ difficult. Especially when it's just the entrance exam!"

"While I understand your concern, I think it's best if we focus on the task ahead of us rather than worry about the exam that has already passed."

Serving as a convenient interruption to Pentei's pessimistic thoughts, the alarm blared, signalling the start of the practical exam for Arena A. Pentei looked around confusedly like many of the other students before Tensei's hand latched onto Pentei's arm, breaking him from his confusion. They both ran out into the arena searching for any and all robots to fight. It didn't take long for Tensei to spot a group of patrolling robots and split off to track them. Pentei continued down the main street before arriving in the center of the arena where test takers with speed boosting abilities had already arrived and had begun dueling the robots.

Summoning his lava from the ground, nearby test takers shrieked as lava burst from the concrete of the faux city and surrounded one of the nearby teens. Pentei created his obsidian armor before hurtling his other lava projectiles at any and all nearby robots, melting them upon contact.

Pentei had an ecstatic look on his face, "This is going to be fun."

Tensei looked over Pentei's carnage from atop a nearby building before surveying the surrounding blocks for any robots. Anytime he spot one, he placed a tracker on them, ensuring they would not escape him. After he had collected around thirty marks, he charged back down to the ground and dashed off after the first of his thirty markers.

Every robot that Tensei came tracked, he expertly dispatched with well placed punches and kicks to weak points exposed by his quirk, something he didn't realize his quirk could do but he's not complaining. After dispatching the eleventh marker and arriving at the twelth, he saw a two pointer and a one pointer cornering another test taker.

The person was a guy with light blue hair, eyes with light blue sclera and black pupils, and a pointed chin. He also had what looked like frost covering parts of his body. Turning the corner, Tensei felt an immediate drop in temperature which only continued to fall as he neared the robots and blue themed boy. He got close enough to see that the boy's fists were bloodied and bruised and he was limping, probably from attempting to brute force his way through the robot's metal bodies.

Tensei swung his legs in a sweeping kick, attempting to knock the one pointer off balance but was surprised to see the robot's body completely shatter at the contact. Turning to the two pointer, he chopped off the tail before using it to impale the two pointer's center.

Tensei looked at the boy while rubbing his sore arm before helping him sit down against the wall, "Are you alright?" Tensei asked suppressing a shiver.

"Y-y-yeah… I-I j-just overd-d-did it w-with my qu-quirk," the boy responded through chattering teeth.

"You look like you have a bad case of frostbite," Tensei bluntly stated, the adrenaline still coursing through his system, "You need to see someone about those injuries."

"A-as m-much as I w-would l-love to, I-I need t-to finish t-this t-test," the boy stated, "I-I n-need to p-pass."

"I don't think you would get into UA if you damage your body any more than you already have," Tensei spoke calmly, "I'm taking you to get some help." Tensei lowered himself to help the boy to his feet, "Can you stand or do I need to carry you?"

The boy begrudgingly sighed, "I-I don't th-think I c-can stand o-on my own. B-but I p-probably c-could if I l-lean on y-you."

Tensei threw one of the boy's arms around his shoulder and put most of the boy's weight on him. Even through the boy's many layers of clothing, Tensei could tell the boy was dangerously cold, meaning the frostbite wasn't just for show.

"My name is Tensei Tensei," Tensei spoke, not wanting the walk to be spent in an uncomfortable silence, "And you are?"

"M-my name i-is To Ominero, i-it's _ice_ to m-meet you," To gave a weak smile through chattering teeth.

Tensei just stared at To while they walked, "I could still drop you, you know." To gave a laugh in response.

* * *

Koto's exam was going great, he had taken out a bunch of robots and he wasn't even feeling a sweat, so he wasn't all that worried when his mentor's tired voice sounded over the entire arena announcing the two minute mark. Koto smiled and he tore through another robot before the ground started to shake. The ground underneath him shook and cracked before a _massive _robot popped out with Koto trapped on top of the robot's massive head. The robot continued its ascent, damaging nearby buildings in the process and spilling rubble all over the center of the arena.

Finally reaching its full height, Koto was launched a couple feet into the air from the sudden stop. Peering over the edge of the goliath, Koto saw rubble heading for several test takers, frozen from fear of the giant monster they were supposed to fight. Koto spawned as many gauntlets as he could manage before sending them down as fast as he could, protecting the frozen teens from any damage. Sighing in relief, Koto turned his attention to the source of the damage that he was stuck on top of. It was slowly making its way towards the entrance of the exam where most of the test takers had fled towards to escape the zero pointer.

_If this thing makes it over there, way too many people will get hurt! _Koto thought, _I can't let it do that which means I have to stop it before it reaches them. Which means…_

_You have to go your maximum output, _Xatl cut in.

Koto jumped from the sudden thought from Xatl. Ever since Xatl had taken temporary control of his body, they could communicate with one another even outside the meadow.

_Are you sure? What about __**HIM**__? _Koto asked worriedly.

_You do not have to worry about __**HIM**__, this output is nowhere near enough to make __**HIM**__ come out, _Xatl assured.

Koto grinned, he could go all out and wouldn't have to worry about anyone's safety from this distance. Koto spawned as many gauntlets he could muster (about three hundred) and forced them to turn back into raw energy before forcing it all into his right arm. He continued to charge as the zero pointer made slow steady progress towards the entrance. Giant arcs of white lightning were flying out of his massively overcharged arm, making every test taker at the entrance gape in awe as arcs of lightning the length of the robot's head continuously shot out from the top of the colossus.

_Three more steps until the robot reaches them._

Koto's arm hurt from the massive amount of energy caged into such a small space but he couldn't afford to let it go. Not yet.

_Two more steps until the robot reaches them._

His arm felt like it would snap at every waking moment but he couldn't let it out. Not yet.

_One more step until the robot reaches them._

Now.

"TAKE THIS YOU OVERSIZED TRASH CAN!"

The zero pointer continued to approach the test takers with giant arcs of lightning flying off from the top of its head. Suddenly someone screams from the top of the robot but the words couldn't be heard from the ground and a giant bolt of lightning the width of the robot's head strikes down, crushing the robot, leaving a crushed, flattened, and smoldering slab of metal less than one hundred meters away from the test takers. Every teacher stood still, their mouths gaping at the sheer power displayed from the young man by the name of Koto Yagi. The only exceptions to this unprofessional display was Eraserhead who was asleep in the corner of the room and Toshinori Yagi, or better known as All Might, who had a wide proud smile on his face.

The other teachers turned to look at All Might, before Powerloader found the courage to ask, "THAT," he points at the kid suspended in the air by the sheer force of his punch, "is YOUR kid?"

"Legally," Toshi tells, "He's adopted."

Koto's arm throbbed with pain, he opened his eyes and looked around, seeing himself flying up into the air from the recoil of his punch. Spawning just one more gauntlet, he caught himself by the neck of his shirt and brought him towards the closest stable building before dropping himself roughly on the roof, completely out of energy. Two test takers eventually showed up to help carry him down where Recovery Girl helped to heal his (apparently shattered) arm before Koto finally succumbed to his exhaustion.

* * *

Koto woke up in his bed with his phone and a letter on his bedside table. Looking over the letter he realized it was stamped with UA's official signature. Ripping it open with no hesitation, a small circular device clattered to the floor before the room erupted with light blue light. Standing in his room was All Might dressed in a yellow striped suit.

"I am here!" The holo-All Might shouts, "To tell you the results of your UA entrance exam!"

_Huh… That was fast,_ Koto thought, _and it looks like he finally took up UA's offer to teach there. For the classes sake, I hope he does a better job teaching them than he did Lacey and I._

"Koto Yagi, You passed the written exam with flying colors, receiving a score of 94%!" Koto could practically feel the pride through the hologram. And for your practical exam…" All Might trails off as Koto leans forward in anticipation. He was pretty sure he passed with all the robots he destroyed, but he never kept count. "You received 78 points via the destruction of faux villains, which is more than enough to earn you a spot in the hero course as well as place you in first for the entirety of the exam," Koto shouted and screamed with joy, jumping up and down and pumping his fists in the air.

"But that's not all!" Koto turned towards the hologram once more, "What kind of hero school would we be if we did not take into account, acts of heroic deeds? Fun Fact! I was an entertainer in a past life! Now may I introduce you to… rescue points! The true value of heroism!" The hologram displayed several moments where Koto used his gauntlets tro protect or save other students before ending it off with a shot of the total destruction of the zero pointer.

"Your many heroic acts have brought a great deal of attention from the many pro heros staffed here at UA, who have awarded you a staggering 72 rescue points, bringing your total to 150 points, shattering the previous record which was my own 132 points! Welcome Koto… to your Hero Academia!"

Koto couldn't believe it. After six years of non stop work and dedication, he finally made it into UA. Koto was about to text his friends when All Might cut in once more, "For your viewing pleasure, here is the scoreboard for the top ten students!" All Might points to a tv screen showing a list of names, with his at the top. "I'll see you in class Koto," All Might added affectionately, "and next time, try not to overdo it so much."

* * *

**UA Entrance Exam Results**

**Koto Yagi: 78 Villain Points - 72 Rescue Points - 150 Points**

**Pentei Power: 69 Villain Points - 54 Rescue Points - 123 Points**

**Lacey Yagi: 39 Villain Points - 45 Rescue Points - 84 Points**

**4th Place: 54 Villain Points - 23 Rescue Points - 77 Points**

**Tina Polo: 70 Villain Points - 5 Rescue Points - 75 Points**

**6th Place: 60 Villain Points - 13 Rescue Points - 73 Points**

**7th Place: 50 Villain Points - 20 Rescue Points - 70 Points**

**Tensei Tensei: 34 Villain Points - 35 Rescue Points - 69 Points**

**9th Place: 41 Villain Points - 25 Rescue Points - 66 Points**

**Ann Front: 56 Villain Points - 9 Rescue Points - 65 Points**

* * *

**Notes:**

1) To Ominero's name is pronounced as Toe Ahm-in-aero, it will drive me crazy if people think i named a character To.

2) Sorry for the chapter being three days late, my friend conveniently decided to barge into my house and stay a few days and I couldn't finish up the chapter in time.

3) Tell me what you think, I would love to hear feedback!

* * *

**Replies:**

**Majestic-Pheonix0: **Thanks again for looking over my work and I'm taking everything you said into consideration. I really appreciate it. And as for the parents, I just wanted to make there be a greater emotional connection between Koto and his parents before they died.

* * *

\- RandomA99


	9. A Weirdo Magnet at UA?

Lightning Knight

Chapter 9: A Weirdo Magnet at UA?

* * *

Every morning at the Yagi household is one to remember. If someone can name a scenario, the Yagi household has probably woken up to it. Children passing out at the breakfast table? Toshi's seen it. Children having anxiety and panic attacks from sheer anxiety? Toshi's seen it. Waking up to see that the house has been filled to the brim with sheer static electricity? Toshi's seen it. Blowing up a kitchen from being such a bad cook? Toshi's hasn't just seen it, he _was _it.

It has gotten so bad that Toshi started making a physical copy of the list, adding another point whenever a new one morning presents itself. At this point, it's quite a long list. So when Koto walks down into the kitchen, fully dressed in his new UA school uniform, carrying his sister over his shoulder in her new UA school uniform, attempting to pry her off the doorframe and out the door so they can go to their first day, he drags his hand down his face, helps Koto pry his sister's remaining fingers off the door, tells them he's so proud of them, and sends them off while Lacey screams _TRAITOR! _over Koto's shoulder.

_It's just one more thing to add to the list, I'm sure the mornings will calm down soon, _he tries to convince himself.

After a short train ride, and walk from the train station, the two Yagis arrive in front of their homeroom class, 1-A. It took some serious convincing to get Lacey to get this far, and Koto's version of convincing is slinging her over his shoulder and carrying her there. Try as she might, Koto wouldn't put her down. Walking up to the door, they can already hear a couple noticeable voices. One was definitely Tensei who was probably complaining about something Pentei said while said person was howling with laughter. Another high pitched voice was trying to get them to calm down before a final voice angrily told them to shut up, because they were tired. Deciding now was a good time to meet their classmates, Koto opened the door and carried Lacey in.

A couple pairs of eyes shot towards the front to check out the newcomers and a few chuckled at the display of a wiggling Lacey and Koto struggling to hold her. Finally getting a good hold on her, Koto walked with Lacey to Pentei and Tensei who had both finally calmed down.

"Hey Pentei, I get that it's fun to tease Tensei, but you might want to tone it down a little," Koto smirked, "We could hear you from down the hallway."

Pentei just smiled and started laughing again. Tensei just sighed in defeat. Someone shrieked and everyone turned to look. There was Eraserhead in his signature yellow caterpillar bag slithering in through the door. Everyone stared in abject horror or amusement as Eraserhead slowly made his way towards the podium at the front of the room and stand up (somehow). He looked at them with bloodshot eyes, probably taking a quick glance over the students he would have this year.

His gaze landed on Pentei, Koto, and Lacey who had all taken seats near each other. He slammed his face into the podium and groaned, "Why? Why does Nezu sack me with you three?"

The rest of the students looked at each other in confusion before Koto spoke up, "What? Are you saying you didn't miss us?" He smirked, "I'm hurt."

Eraserhead groaned in response and began his introduction, "My name is Shouta Aizawa, and I'm your homeroom teacher." About half the class' jaw dropped at the reveal but who could blame them when a caterpillar man slinks into the room, crawls out of a sleeping bag while drinking a juice pack, dresses like a hobo, and then reveals he is a teacher. He tossed a pile of PE uniforms on the ground (where did he keep them? In the sleeping bag?), "Put these on and meet me at Ground Beta in fifteen minutes or you're expelled."

That's it. That's all he said as he walked out of the room. The entire class dashed to sort out the gym uniforms before heading out to the changing rooms. Within ten minutes, every person was dressed and out on the training field, waiting before a bored Aizawa.

"Today we'll be holding a quirk apprehension test. The Department of Education still thinks it's fair to conduct these tests without the use of quirks, preventing those with gifts to further themselves. It's irrational. So today we'll be doing eight tests; 50 meter sprint, grip strength, standing long jump, repeated side steps, ball throw, seated toe touches, sit ups, and finally distance run. We will be using these tests to gauge your overall strength and set your limits so that you can work to break them."

A black haired guy with a strange looking eyes clearly held himself back from jumping at the thought of using his quirk and instead asked a very reasonable question, "Excuse me, sir, but what about orientation and all the counselor stuff?"

Aizawa didn't even hesitate before answering, "We don't have time to waste on meaningless ceremonies or trivialities, so we'll be skipping them." Most of the students were taken aback by the sudden change of pace from their old schools, a few murmuring about UA really ramping it up.

"Yagi," Aizawa called out.

"Yeah?" "Do you need something sir?"

Aizawa's expression went from _I'm so done with teaching _to _I'm so done with life_.

"Koto, you placed first in the entrance exam so I'll be using you as a demonstration,"

_Way to put it bluntly, Eraserhead, _Koto sassed in his head.

Aizawa tossed him a ball, "Use your quirk to toss this as far as you can, anything is allowed as long as you stay in the circle," he started to walk away before turning back around, "oh yeah, don't take too long to charge alright? And make sure you have energy for the rest of the tests, or you're expelled."

_He's so thoughtful._

_Tone down the sass, and just throw the ball._

_Shut it, Xatl. _Walking into the circle, Koto gripped the ball tight, _First impressions matter and I'm being used as a demonstration,_ a grin found its way onto Koto's face, _I better set a good example._

He closed his eyes and took control of his energy and power, slowly spreading it across his body and supplying a bit more into his right arm. His classmates watched on in vague interest and confusion as Tensei, Lacey, and Pentei all took several steps back. One person even asked what he was doing.

"Oh, he's just charging up and it's probably in your best interest if you back up a bit because pretty soon, electricity will go flying everywhere," Pentei cheerfully answered. Almost as soon as he said it, white electricity began to arc out of Koto's body, slowly growing larger as he continued to charge.

A very tall student stepped forward, eyes wide in disbelief, "That's the electricity that was flying out of the zero pointer in my arena before it was completely crushed!" He turned towards Pentei, who just nodded at the unanswered question. The tall student joined the three others and stepped back. The other students got the memo and joined them with the exception of the girl Lacey had met in her arena, Ann Front, and another girl carrying a sketchbook. The lightning continued to grow in length and began to scorch the ground, leaving long back streak marks surrounding the white circle. Some of his electrical armor covered his right arm to provide a defense to the inevitable recoil the throw would produce before he reared his arm, stepped forward, and threw.

The ball left his hand with a large blast of electricity with excess striking the ground surrounding them, causing Ann to be blasted backwards. Koto was panting heavily as the ball quickly soared out of his sight, he stood straight and turned to face his teacher, awaiting his results. Aizawa pulled his phone out to announce the result of the throw but they both stood waiting for half a minute before the phone beeped.

2.096 kilometers

Silently congratulating himself, Koto walked back towards his starstruck classmates. He started talking with Pentei and Tensei while Lacey helped Ann back to her feet.

_More than 100 more meters than last time! Definitely improving my control of my quirk!_

_Stop parading yourself around and be with Lacey, some weirdo is hitting on her._

Pentei was pumped for this test! He would finally be able to prove he can match up to Koto but after that throw, he's not so sure anymore. But he can swallow down that crippling anxiety and his pessimistic thoughts to just talk with his friend. The conversation was going well, they were both talking about how they could potentially use their quirks to achieve better results before Koto abruptly stopped and a furious scowl took the place of his signature smirk. Pentei stepped back in shock, he's never seen that look on Koto's face, it made him think Koto was about to commit murder, and from the way he was glaring holes into the back of another boy's head, he just might do it. And as it turns out, some of their classmates thought so too, trying to subtly move away from the fuming powerhouse.

He stepped forward to ask what was wrong before Tensei pulled him back, shook his head, and pointed towards Lacey who looked very uncomfortable. Pentei got the message, to calm down Koto, he had to calm down Lacey.

He casually walked over to her, "Hey Lacey, you doing alright? You look uncomfortable."

Se shook her head way too fast for her to be alright, "Nope, I-I'm perfectly fine!" _Please believe me, please believe me, please believe me._

"I don't believe you for a second, and really I don't think I can actually leave you alone or else Koto will add me to his hitlist." He pointed towards the fuming teen in question, "So I need you to tell me what's wrong before he starts a homicide."

"I-It's not that big of a deal, r-really!" Lacey was just getting more uncomfortable, "Some guy j-just asked me if I w-wanted to go to dinner w-with him."

When Aizawa finished setting up the scoreboard (why he didn't do it earlier, he'll never know) and put Koto's score in, he did not expect to see Koto and Pentei with the faces of wrath incarnate on their faces, looking like they were doing everything in their power to not commit mass homicide in that exact moment. The other students were warily backing away from the two.

Aizawa sighed, "_Problem Children,_" he muttered under his breath.

One student seemed oblivious to the clear rage emit by two of his classmates and happily shouted, "This is gonna be great!"

"It's going to be great huh?" The class (even Koto and Pentei) shivered at the tone of Aizawa's voice, "What? Are you expecting for this to be all fun and games? All right, then let's treat it like one. Whoever comes in last place overall will be expelled, no questions asked."

And with that, the hero course at UA officially began.

* * *

The class began with the 50 meter dash, where several people made notable displays of their quirks. A skinny guy with bright electric hair shot his arm into the middle of the track with a chain attached to the ground and reeled himself across the field. Another girl with plant-like skin rose a flower that carried herself across. One guy just turned into a bear and dashed across the field. Koto used his electricity to boost his strength to dash across the field in 4.21 seconds. Lacey spawned a bubble and expanded it to launch herself across the track in 3.79 seconds but she didn't exactly stick the landing. Tensei ran across the field normally since his quirk wouldn't be of help in the tests, earning a time of 6.70 seconds. Pentei flowed lava around his legs and used it to aid his running and speed, crossing the track in 5.45 seconds.

The grip strength test was pretty much catered towards Koto whose electrically enhanced strength brought his score to a whopping 348 kg of force, but that was before his gauntlets added even greater force to the machine, finishing the test with a total of 674 kg. Any and all nearby classmates were immediately intimidated. The stone-faced girl from Koto's throw drew a very large and very muscular arm in her sketchbook which promptly came to life and squeezed the life out of the grip tester, getting a score of 246 kg. Lacey bubble's popped from the force if she tried to shrink them over the grip tester so she just squeezed normally, getting 42 kg. Tensei followed suit getting a slightly higher score of 51 kg. One girl face planted onto the floor drawing several _are you alright?_ from her classmates before the concrete from the floor was literally sucked out from underneath her, her body taking a gray tone and she gave off a bright smile before squeezing the life out of the grip strength tester, with the device turning into scrap metal, screaming and smoking the entire time.

The standing long jump was rather boring with almost everyone launching themselves across the sandbox. The most exciting part was when the girl with the silver tube for an arm literally shot a rocket at the ground and blew herself up to get across. Aizawa sighed after that performance.

The repeated side steps saw few notable scores. Koto, Tensei, Lacey, and Pentei's quirks were unsuited towards the test and got average scores with Lacey scoring the highest of the four. The girl with the sketchbook and the faceplant girl were the only exceptions when the girl sucked up rubber and bounced her way to victory and the guy drew a tire to bounce himself back and forth.

In the seated toe touches, Koto failed spectacularly. He was never very flexible and it easily showed when he did the poorest out of the entire class. Lacey scored highest, but don't ask Koto why. Pentei and Tensei both scored average and so did most of the class. The guy with the chains in his body did spectacularly well, nearly beating out Lacey in the flexibility department.

In the sit-ups, most of their classmates were forced to drop out after a minimum of 41 and a maximum of 78 while Pentei, Tensei, Lacey, and Koto just kept going. Tensei was forced to stop at 143 while Koto and Pentei glared at each other while fire comically rose around them. Their classmates watched as these three teenagers went from 100 sit ups to 200 before reaching 289 and simultaneously dropping dead on the ground… before Lacey did one more out of spite.

The distance run forced all the classmates to maintain at least a minimum speed while running for as long as possible. Koto, Lacey, and Pentei's crazy endurance helped them out while Tensei finished in the upper regions of the class, but there was nothing too crazy here either.

The last test was the ball throw and since Koto already threw his, he was exempt from the test.

First up was Ann Front who caught the ball and placed it on the ground. The stars on her knuckles began to glow before she began to punch the ball into the ground, sticking multiple star markers onto the ball. After thirty seconds, she decided she couldn't handle anymore and picked up the ball with her bleeding hands. She tossed the ball a mediocre distance before one by one, the star markers activated, sending the ball flying farther and farther away. Ann achieved a distance of 829 meters.

Next up was the chain guy. His throw was relatively simple compared to the previous display. He gripped the ball and started spinning, slowly letting the chains become longer and longer until they stretched out 30 meters from him. He continued spinning, building the ball's velocity higher and higher before letting go and launching the ball. The ball landed 325 meters away.

The molding girl was called up next, taking in as much cement from the ground, her body once more taking a grayer skin tone. Her quirk couldn't augment her throw capabilities and she received a slightly above-average score of 74 meters.

After the molding girl was a guy with black hair with yellow jagged lines in it. Lines that also showed up on his hands and wrists. He threw the ball and then shot out a bunch of small little electric shocks that he seemed to control and sent them into the ball one after another, positioning it so that his final strike, a far larger and more powerful shot from his palms struck dead on, sending the ball flying. He scored 449 meters.

A guy with a smug smile on his face placed the ball a short distance away from the circle; if Koto had to guess, he would say around 35 meters. He walked back to the circle and the ball raced towards him at incredible speeds before shooting past him and off into the field. He scored a decent score of 243 meters.

A girl with braided long green hair was next to toss the ball. She was hunched over like she was trying to make herself smaller. She also didn't have a physically enhancing quirk and achieved a normal throw of 56 meters.

A girl with brown hair tied into a short ponytail was up next. She picked up the ball and stared at it for a bit, looking like she was thinking hard about something… until she slammed her fist into the ground. She punched the ground until her fists were bloody. She stood up straight and a face of discomfort was clear on her face. Not pain, but discomfort. She tossed the ball in front of her face and a powerful gust of wind shot out from her mouth, launching the ball away. She scored 721 meters. Aizawa tried to ignore Koto raising and lowering his eyebrows at him.

A surprised look overcame Tensei's face when he saw the guy he saved in the entrance exam stroll up to take his turn. To Ominero took a stance and tossed the ball before shooting it with a blue fire out of his hand. Tensei watched with fascination as the flame collided with the ball and the ball became completely encased in a thick layer of ice. To chuckled nervously while everyone facepalmed when the ball fell straight down after it took on much more weight. Aizawa gave him a retry and he just threw it normally getting a score of 61 meters.

A red haired girl with a round face and big eyes walked up to the circle. Her steps as she approached them increased in weight making her seem overly dramatic. She looked around, a little embarrassed by her broadway musical she starred in which meant it was probably her quirk which forced her to change the weight of her steps. Taking the ball from Aizawa, she reared her arm back and threw forward incredibly quickly as if her arm was mere air, launching the ball and achieving a score of 309 meters.

Rocket girl's throw was just as everyone expected it to be, she tossed the ball before shooting it with one of her rockets. She seemed to be a great shot since she hit the target dead on and rocketed the ball forward before it landed at 325 meters.

The next thrower was incredibly tall, towering easily over Koto and everyone else. His body was incredibly toned and snugly fit the U.A. gym uniform, showing off his physique. More than a couple girls snuck some glances at him when they thought he wasn't watching. Striding into the circle, he flexed his body, tensing his arm, and threw the ball. It landed 209 meters away.

A small, unassuming boy was up next. What stuck out to Koto about this kid was his rather long nails and his rather bushy hair that reaches and is growing out of his neck. Without any warning, instead of the small kid standing there, there is now a brown bear the size of All Might with red lines lining his body originating from his eyes. Koto could relate to the eye lines, experiments with Xatl taking over his body revealed his frustration at the ever present red jagged lines that shot out from his eyes. The bear stood on its hind legs and rather clumsily threw the ball. The ball didn't go as far as most people expected it to from a giant bear, only reaching 148 meters, but it's to be expected since bears don't have the proper bone structure to throw properly.

A girl with a horn and orange hair walked up and just threw the ball, getting a mediocre 50 meters. Unless she wanted to impale and destroy the test ball, then using her horn was out of the question.

Finally, the girl with plantlike skin entered the circle, took out a seed from a small pouch she had in her uniform, planted it in the nearby dirt, and took out a watering can. No one knows where she got the watering can and some are too afraid to even ask since immediately afterwards, a giant stalk of a plant shot out from the ground, wrapped around the tiny ball and chucked it, earning an incredible score of 1.043 kilometers.

Pentei was next and he was definitely feeling calmer since the beginning of the test. After some asshole tried to hit on Lacey and made her feel uncomfortable, he used that rage to better his performance and push him and his quirk further, but it wasn't enough. Koto was still beating him in almost every test, so he would have to make up for it in this one. On his way to the circle, he quickly ran through what his quirk could do and how it could potentially be used to score a high distance. A scarf looking thing wrapped around his ankle, snapping him out of his thought session. He looked around and saw that he had walked past the circle and Aizawa was now annoyed with him. But hey, at least he knew what to do now.

Actually stepping into the circle, Pentei brought out lava from the surrounding area and turned the outside layer into obsidian so that the ball wouldn't be damaged. He molded it into a hand and had it carry the ball out he was on the edge of his range of control (which is 3 kilometers), behind him. Then he just launched the ball and the hand along with it. In summary, he just extended his throw distance by extending his throw. He got a score of 3.423 kilometers.

Pentei whooped in joy, knowing he had finally bested Koto in a friendly and competitive way, but then he turned around. Aizawa was glaring at him like he was the reason he never got enough sleep. Quickly apologizing (out of fear), he scurried back to the group. Lacey sing his praises, Tensei congratulated him, and Koto, being the sarcastic person he is, gave him a fake pout before bringing him in for a hug. Then Tensei took his turn and got an average score of 67 meters and everyone sweatdropped.

The last of the non-recommended students to go was Lacey, who shyly scurried up into the circle, more than uncomfortable with all eyes on her. She turned around, pleading with her eyes with Koto and Pentei for one of them to get her out of this situation. They just gave her weak smiles and threw their thumbs up. Lacey gave a defeated sigh as she emit a bubble on the ground and balanced the ball on it. She stepped back out of the circle (the ball was still in it, so Aizawa allowed it) and expanded it as fast as possible. Her score wasn't too impressive (not when compared to Pentei or Koto) but it was definitely something to note since she scored 1.012 kilometers. She stumbled back to Koto and Pentei and collapsed from sheer anxiety as Koto hoisted her over his shoulder.

* * *

"Alright, now I'll have the two reccomendation students throw, first up is Opo Sing."

A purple haired girl with hazel eyes and a content smile stepped up.

"I don't think her quirk is any kind of physically enhancing quirk. She hasn't done anything impressive in any of the tests so far," Koto said.

"Yeah but a lot of other people in our class doesn't have any physically enhancing quirk, Koto," Pentei responded, "Just look at me, I don't have a physically enhancing quirk but I've still been making good scores."

"That's not what I mean… You have an emitter based quirk that lets you control lava but it seems like she doesn't even have that!" Koto was worried for the girl. She was one of the people to help calm Lacey down when she was panicking earlier and she seemed incredibly kind hearted. He didn't want to see her being expelled because her quirk wasn't physical.

"But she always seems to know where everyone is at all times!" Lacey cut in from Koto's back. _It's kind of creepy, but she's still pretty nice!_

Opo threw the ball as the three conversed earning another average score.

"And next up is Konata Tori," he tossed the ball to the girl with the sketchbook, who hadn't been paying attention at all the entire ball throw test, "and hurry up, this one test has taken way too long already."

The stone face girl with abnormally bright pink hair stepped up to the circle and placed her sketchbook on the ground. Waiting on something to happen, everyone looked on curiously to see what the girl had drawn. They had all seen the muscular arm and tire she drew in the other tests as well as several other things to aid her in the tests, but no one expected to see a paper version of _freakin ALL MIGHT_ pop out of her sketchbook.

"Paper Might, I need you to throw this ball as far as physically possible," The girl commanded.

Everyone gaped at the now named Paper Might who wordlessly grabbed hold of the ball, gave a showmanly flex before absolutely destroying the ball, sending it off into the horizon just as Koto and Pentei had done.

She scored 1.987 kilometers.

She _created_ All Might and had him throw the ball.

A scowl replaced her stoic look as she glared at seemingly no one. Even with a score that high, she wasn't happy with her results. Upon seeing the amazed stares she was getting at, let me say this one more time, _creating All Might,_ she explained.

"The things I draw are nowhere near as strong as their real life counterparts. If they were, I would put every hero out of business."

People wouldn't have given that statement another thought, thinking it was a joke, but her cold glare at Aizawa was a clear indicator that it wasn't a joke.

It was a threat.

* * *

Aizawa's surprise that the expulsion threat was a logical ruse garnered more than a few groans in response but nothing too crazy. However, the day wasn't over just yet since Aizawa made one more announcement.

"Change back into your regular outfits and meet back in homeroom, you'll be introducing yourselves to one another." He said nothing else as he walked away dramatically.

_Can't the guy take a break on the angst? _Koto had to bite his tongue to hold in his sass.

With the students now changed back into school uniforms and seated in their respective seats in their 1-A classroom, Aizawa set out on finishing this hellish first day.

"Alright, one by one, you will all walk up to this podium and state your name, your quirk, and something you like to do as a hobby before sitting down and having the next person go. The order will be decided by your class number. Make it quick, I want to go home and sleep."

Aizawa shuffled into the corner of the room, slid into the sleeping bag and collapsed immediately.

For the first time in the day, the class was fully united in their thoughts, _Is this really our teacher?_

* * *

After a couple of minutes of their classmates checking if he was really asleep (he was completely passed out), student number one, a skinny guy with bright electric hair, went up to the front of the classroom.

"Hi! The name's Lay Loon, it's nice to meet ya!" He said excitedly before speaking in an accented and fake serious voice, "My quirk is **Hollow**. It makes my entire body completely hollow! After a certain accident which I shan't speak of, I realized I can shoot off limbs and still move them, so I got these chains to make sure they reattach!"

To raised his hand, getting Lay's attention, "So if your body is hollow, do you have organs and stuff?"

"Nope!"

"Then do you eat?" This time the question came from Pentei who was very curious about his new classmate.

"Yup!"

"Where does it go?" The tall classmate asked.

"No idea! Oh right, a hobby…" Lay trailed off, "I like doing parkour with my chains, it makes me feel like I'm flying!"

* * *

Student two was Ann Front, who Lacey had already met in her entrance exam. Her white hair and cyan eyes were quite an interesting look when paired together and a couple other girls even pouted in jealousy of her chest.

"My name is Ann Front and my quirk is called **Multi-hit**!" Ann practically shouted, "Whenever I hit something I can stick the star marks on my knuckles," she raised her knuckles so they could see, "on to the thing I'm hitting. Then I can use them to pretty much hit the person again up to five times or all at once for a super powered punch!"

Koto was impressed. A quirk like that would be incredible in one-on-one fights wince she could essentially always have an opening once she got a single hit.

"I really love to play soccer, so if any of you ever want to play, I'll give you a good challenge!"

* * *

Student three was a girl with brown hair and eyes. Her arms however, were permanently stained gray. She was the girl that face planted and sucked up the concrete. Maybe some was still stuck in her.

"I'm Mila Puna and my arms are gray because of my quirk, **Molding**. It allows me to mold any material into my body, removing any normal human limitations and affecting my durability, strength and the like. I enjoy reading, thank you for listening."

_Well that was blunt, _Koto thought.

_It's better to be blunt than secretive._

_Coming from you Xatl, that doesn't mean much._

_That's funny, I was almost positive you wanted to live._

_...noted._

* * *

Student number four was the kind recommendation girl who was spared from Aizawa's expulsion. Her purple hair bobbing with every step.

"It was very nice to meet you all, my name is Opo Sing," Opo bows to the class in kindness, "My quirk is known as **All-Seeing Gas**. I constantly produce a transparent and odorless gas. I can sense the movements of the gas and anything that disturbs it which allows me to track anything in it. I very much enjoy cooking as a pastime and I've learned to make a wide variety of meals I would be more than happy to share with you all anytime."

Opo's kind nature had already earned the vast majority of the class' respect but her honest wishes to spend time with her classmates was the nail in the coffin for several of the boys in the classroom as well as a few girls.

_So that's how she always knew where everyone was. It is an incredibly useful quirk for disaster relief. She could use it to locate civilians or any remaining villains._

_A useful ability but not for combat._

_Not every hero has to be a combat hero, some can be a rescue hero._

_It is foolish to become a hero believing the time to fight will never arrive._

* * *

Student five was a guy with black hair and jagged yellow lines on his hands and in his hair. Koto saw him shoot thunder from his hands during the ball throw test and was excited to meet another electricity user.

"What's up, my name is Doon Welta and my quirk is **Thunder Shot**. I can shoot giant shots of thunder from my palms or small shocks of electricity from my fingers which I can move around at will. Now where's the white haired strong guy?" Koto raised his hand, surprise clear on his face. "Dude, you gotta tell me how you made that much electricity."

"Eh," Koto shrugged, "Not entirely sure why I can generate that much but I'll tell you about what I do know when I go up."

"Alright man, that's cool," Doon tried to hide his disappointment, "Anyways, I love playing video games! My favorites are Mario Kart and Smash Bros.!"

_I got a feeling I like this guy._

_Shut up, you addict._

* * *

Student number six they gray haired smug guy who could seemingly float around. He confidently strode up to the podium where he leaned on one elbow and looked at the class condescendingly.

"If you haven't already heard of me, my name is Kinto Einoquiro and my amazing quirk is called **Attraction**. I can create a magnetic field around me which I can use to attract anything within a range of thirty meters that has a weight of under one ton. Anything heavier and instead I'll be attracted to it. And speaking of attraction…" he turned towards Lacey, "Have you made up your mind? Dinner tonight at 6?"

A loud snap was heard throughout the room. Everyone turned towards the source and saw Koto with a wide, friendly smile plastered on his face. But his eyes spoke of endless rage and wrath. No one wanted to talk about the now cracked titanium desk.

_Let me out, Koto._

_Not yet._

_I can only wait so long, Koto._

* * *

Student seven was none other than Lacey Yagi who nervously made her way to the podium. Looking over the crowd of twenty people (nineteen if you don't count a passed out Aizawa) and saw Pentei and Tensei both giving her a thumbs up and a reassuring smile in support while Koto did everything he could to not commit murder. It was obvious she would have to ask Aizawa to switch seats with someone.

"U-uhm, m-my name is Lacey Yagi," Koto calmed down enough to listen to her and gave her one of his rare non-sassy smiles. A smile so powerful that she could practically feel confidence fill her. She took a deep breath, some classmates giving her looks of understanding, "My quirk is a bit of a complex one. Its name is **Music Influence** and it grants me the ability to emit small bubbles that I can condense or expand. They are quite fragile and wouldn't be capable of any sort of combat if it weren't for my main ability. If I listen to music while I have bubbles created, I can influence anyone within the bubbles depending on what song I listen to. For example, if I listen to a fast paced and upbeat song, I will make anyone inside my bubbles very energetic."

Lacey gave a small sigh of relief. She was always anxious about talking about her quirk since she's always been judged as having a weak quirk which therefore meant she was a weak person: someone to be stepped on and forgotten.

"Some of my hobbies i-include working out, cooking, and spending time with my brother. T-Thank you for your time."

Lacey hurried back to her seat, her face already beet red. Koto gave her a proud smile, and she blushed harder. Jeez, she had a bad crush.

* * *

Student eight was Tensei Tensei who stiffly walked up to the podium. He glanced around the room nervously before clearing his throat and speaking.

"It is nice to meet you all, my name is Tensei Tensei and my quirk is **Tracker**. It allows me to place a marker on any object or person that can never be removed without my compliance. I enjoy running since it doubles as training and it usually lets me clear my head. Thank you for listening." Tensei stiffly and awkwardly hobbled back to his seat and sat down waiting for a book or a hand to come flying towards him but nothing but comforting smiles and supportive grins met his eyes.

He's gonna like it here. He can tell.

* * *

Student nine was the nervous green haired girl who upon reaching the podium completely lost all will to speak and started panicking. She hunched over and hid behind the podium and if the front row listened really closely they could hear her give herself words of encouragement before she popped back up and gave her introduction. But the weird thing is, she held her arm in front of her face.

"Hello, my name is Diin Daen. My quirk is **Dispersion**. I am able to disperse any force across my entire body or outside my body." The class looked at each other in confusion, both at the girl's quirk and why she was holding her arm out. Diin started to panic again, "L-Like, if I get hit by a b-ball, i-instead of taking all the force from the ball in the spot it hit me, I-I can spread out the force ac-cross my entire body, w-which would lower the overall damage to me." The class nodded in understanding and Diin calmed down a bit. "I l-like spending time with my family and I can play the piano."

An odd combination of hobbies but a welcome one to the class of misfits. When Diin sat down, everyone sweatdropped at the words written in marker on her arm as she rubbed them away.

* * *

Student ten was Pentei who walked up to the front of the room far more than confidently (at least when compared to the three people who went up before him).

"It's pretty cool to meet you guys, my name is Pentei Power and my quirk is **Lava Flow**. You probably saw it earlier but I can control and manipulate any and all lava within a 3 kilometer radius, but it takes some time for it to come out of the ground. Anyways, I love to play games so Doon, if you're up for it, I'll take you on in Smash anytime."

A polite clap followed Pentei's energetic introduction alongside both Doon and Lay shouting in confirmation.

* * *

_You remember the cover story? Xatl questioned._

_You're acting as if they didn't go over it with me a hundred times._

_I know, I just wanted to annoy you a bit._

Koto bit back a groan as he walked up to the podium. Obviously he couldn't tell his class the truth about his quirk. Only a select few knew about it and only Lacey knew the truth of the third soul. So Toshi and Lacey made a cover up quirk for Koto to make sure no one would realize the danger his quirk posed.

Putting on a smirk, Koto began, "It's nice to meet you all, and it was nice to see your quirks in action. I can see why you all made it into the top heroics course in the country. Anyways, my name is Koto Yagi and my quirk is **Electric Sparks**. It allows me to generate electricity and spawn these little sparks of electricity that can be formed into medieval gauntlets. My sister is too shy to admit it, but she's crazy smart and she thinks I can use the sparks to create other weaponry, but I haven't been able to yet."

Lacey was hiding her head in her arms as the blush on her face turned tomato levels of red. Almost everyone in the class looked between the two to spot any sort of resemblance between the short brown haired girl and the tall white haired boy. Catching on to the confusion, Koto clarified, "Oh, we don't look alike because we were adopted as kids. Anyways, some of my hobbies include napping, resting, and sleeping."

Lacey somehow managed to overcome her embarrassment to shout at Koto, "Tell them your real hobbies Koto!"

"Yeah! C'mon Sparky," Pentei helpfully added.

Koto groaned, "Alright, alright, yeesh. I like to cook with Lacey, clean, workout, take naps, play video and board games with Lacey since she isn't the best at video games-"

"Koto, she ten stocked you in a three stock match. I don't even know how you managed that," Tensei bluntly stated.

"Minor details... I also like to pummel any jerk that tries to hurt her," the atmosphere in the classroom turned ripe with tension and fear as Koto eyed down Kinto in his seat. "But if you can look past that, I'm sure we'll be great friends!"

The terrifying atmosphere was gone and Koto's smirk returned as he sat down.

_I think you went too far, _Xatl hesitantly said.

_Nah, most of 'em are calmin down already._

* * *

Student number twelve was the pink haired recommendation student who drew All Might to life . She stepped up to the podium wordlessly.

"My name is Konata Tori. My quirk is **Photo-Realism**. I can bring anything I draw to life with enough detail. My hobby is drawing."

Konata sat down without another word or glance at anyone else. Koto thought he heard her huff in annoyance under her breath.

_I don't think she's okay,_ Koto worriedly thought.

_It's not our problem,_ Xatl spoke his mind and no matter how he tried to hide it, his first priority would always be Koto's safety with Lacey's a very close second.

_Have a heart dude._

_I literally don't._

* * *

Student thirteen was the brown eyed girl with the ponytail who beat her hands to a bloody mess in the ground for a good score on the ball throw. She had an impractical quirk for most situations and yet, Koto couldn't deny the fact that she had made it into UA just as he had.

"Hiya! My name is Jujine Den, I hope we can all be great friends!" Jujine was very bubbly but with all the nervous energy in the room, a little cheerfulness could go a long way, since already a bunch of students were quickly calming down. Whether or not this was her plan was the question. "My quirk is **Blow-Out**! Any damage I take can be moved into my lungs which lets me breath out a crazy strong blast of air."

Koto was starting to see why she had made it into UA. In most fights, both fighters would wear out and grow weaker as the fight dragged on, however, Jujine's quirk allowed her strength to grow as the battle continued, assuming she can take the damage and continue standing.

"I love singing and dancing so if any of you can play music just tell me and we can totally jam out together!" Finished with her greeting, Jujine practically pranced her way back to her seat.

* * *

Student fourteen was the boy Tensei had told Koto about from his own entrance exam. He seemed to be powerful but after the failure of a throw on the ball test, Koto wasn't sure what to think of the guy. But his light blue hair and sclera were very calming, so that was a plus.

"Hello! My name is To Ominero and my quirk is **Cold Front**. I can use my own body heat to slowly freeze an area around me or to shoot out some sorta fire that freezes anything it hits. I have no idea how that works. Oh! If I overuse my quirk I can get hypothermia like I did in the entrance exam. Thanks again for the help Tensei! I like playing video games and I can play the bass."

_Ah, so he's an idiot._

_Continue with that attitude and you won't have any friends._

* * *

Student fifteen was the red haired girl with very heavy steps during the ball throw. She looked like she wanted to be anywhere but at that podium right now.

"I'm Mono Mopo and my quirk is **Weight Exchange**. I can shift the weight of my body to any part I want almost instantaneously. This means I can make my arm weigh almost nothing and swing it really fast before putting all my weight into it, giving it a large amount of force. However, by doing this, I lose some of my weight."

_Ah, so that's why she looks like a twig._

_Xatl, you can't really say anything in that department. You _are_ a twig_

"I enjoy eating different styles of food and painting."

The nervous girl sat down, looking rather ashamed and self conscious about herself. Koto turned around, flashed her a kind smile and squeezed her hand in reassurance before turning his attention to the front once more. Gone were her insecure thoughts and in their place were thoughts centered around the tall kind boy in front of her.

* * *

Student sixteen was none other than blasty herself who wore some kind of dark lensed glasses and had strange fire colored hair where the roots were red but the ends were a bright orange.

"Greetings!" She began in dramatic flare, "The name is Tina Pola and my quirk as you can see here," she started acting as if she was marketing her own arm, "Is **Rocket Arm**. The entirety of my arm past my elbow is, in fact, a full fledged rocket launcher that shoots missiles formed from the iron in my body! I enjoy acting when I'm not practicing my aim! That's all for my performance!" Tina gave a mock bow as she made her way back to her seat.

_She's an… interesting character._

* * *

Student seventeen was the incredibly tall and well built teen who recognized Koto from their entrance exam. He stood about a foot and a half above Koto and nearly met eye to eye with All Might in his buff form.

"My name is Quin Wogata, it's nice to meet you all," the behemoth stated, "My quirk is **Increased Gravity**. Gravity affects me far more strongly than it would any other person. I enjoy spending my time…" the goliath trailed before turning his head away, trying to hide a small blush, "I like to spend my time sewing and knitting."

_Huh… would this be considered a stereotype? _Koto quipped.

_Shut up… Please…_

* * *

Student eighteen was the lime green haired bundle of nerves that looked like the stereotypical nerd with some minor changes, mainly the rather long nails and lack of horrific acne or braces.

"Hello, my name is Ainjiro Lokata, and my quirk is **Bear Form**. It allows me to transform into a large brown bear and grants me the strengths and weaknesses of the animal. I enjoy spending my time birdwatching." A small faint smile creeped on to Ainjiro's face as he walked back to his seat calmly.

_Much more collected than he made himself out to be. I like that._

_Wow! Xatl giving a compliment? Who thought such a thing was possible?!_

_Shut it before I make you shut it next time you come to the meadow._

* * *

Student nineteen was an orange haired girl with black eyes and a bone like horn sticking out of her forehead and the biggest chest in the class out of the eleven girls. She dwarfed most of the others in comparison, and she knew it too.

"My name… is Chino Enn! My quirk is **Horn**. Not very exciting I know, but check this out!" Suddenly the horn on her forehead shot out, growing from far less than a third of a meter to five meters long. Lay chuckled nervously as he narrowly escaped from being impaled through the head. "This is the longest it can go, but I think it makes for a pretty decent weapon! I like hanging out with friends and I can play the guitar, so Jujine, To, and Diin, we should sing and play together sometime."

_Simple yet effective, _Xatl stated.

…

_That's all you have to say?_

_What more do you want me to say?_

…

_You're simple._

* * *

The last student in the class, student number twenty was the plant girl who grew a giant flower. Her black sclera and pink irises also made for an interesting combination to look at. But staring was rude, so he would ask about it later.

"My name is Yuna Blossom and my quirk is **Bloom**. I am able to transfer the life energy of myself to plants to make them grow or take the life energy from plants to heal others. I can also control most plants to a degree. And before you ask, no I can't kill myself by giving all my life energy to a plant, I would pass out long before that and could recover my life energy back through rest."

Most of everyone's concerns were immediately shot down with that final statement.

After shaking Aizawa awake, the students were allowed to leave for the day with the promise they would overlook the syllabus at home. One by one, they packed up their bags and left. Kinto was about to follow the trend and see if he can get a dinner date with one of the hotties in his class when a pair of hands gripped his shoulders, _tightly_. He turned around to be met with something he'll remember for the rest of his life. The two main powerhouses of the class, Pentei Power and Koto Yagi, close friend and brother to Lacey Yagi respectively, staring him down with a look that could kill.

* * *

"Hey buddy, would you mind if we talked before you left?"

It was such a simple sentence but it struck fear deep inside his mind. He nodded quickly, fearing for his life, but they wouldn't hurt him. Right? They're here to be heroes. RIGHT?

"So we heard that you made Lacey uncomfortable during the quirk assessment test," Pentei spoke slowly and surely, making sure he absorbed every single word. "That I can forgive, since it seemed to be harmless and it _is_ the first day here, so you wouldn't know her any better."

Pentei glared at Kinto, and he glared _hard_, "But asking again in class is something that can't go unpunished." Kinto gulped in fear. "Buuuuut… I'm feeling charitable, so I can let you off the hook with a warning, so _don't. Make. Lacey. Hurt._"

Kinto agreed quickly.

Pentei sighed and continued, "I was feeling charitable, but I never said anything about him." He pointed to Koto who looked absolutely murderous. Kinto was sweating profusely, ready to make a break for it before he heard the heavenly sound of footsteps sound throughout the otherwise empty hallway.

_I'm saved!_

All Might walked around the corner and quickly looked over the situation.

"Boys? What exactly is going on here?" He asked hesitantly.

Pentei opened his mouth to answer but Koto beat him to it, "Nothing much All Might, this guy just asked Lacey out to dinner and wouldn't stop bothering her, that's all."

Aizawa came around the corner of the hallway since he forgot his thermos of coffee inside the classroom and was not at all surprised to see Pentei, Koto and All Might all giving Kinto the glare of his lifetime. He grabbed his thermos, wrote a message on the board, and left.

All Might took notice of Aizawa leaving and looked at the board.

_10/10 glares but no killing on school grounds_

_\- Aizawa_

* * *

**Notes:**

The longest chapter yet but it definitely needed to be since I introduced sixteen character all at once.

Tell me what you think about the story and what you think will happen and I'll do my best to answer any questions without spoiling anything.

Anyways, thank you for reading!

RandomA99


	10. A Nice Relaxing Time to Chill

Lightning Knight

Chapter 10: A Nice Relaxing Time to Chill

* * *

The first day at UA was strange compared to their old school. The classes were taught by pro-heroes, they were allowed to use their quirks, and they got to workout. But the strangest had to be the way their classmates were behaving. All of their classmates had at the least talked to Koto and Lacey and at the most tried to befriend them, but Lacey declined on their behalf when Koto just walked away from them. He didn't trust them. Not yet. The rest of the week followed in the exact same way.

The first week also served as a little trial period to see if anyone got kicked out of UA before they had to move in to the on campus UA dormitories, otherwise known as the Height's Alliance. So on the first weekend, all of their classmates showed up at the front doors of the dorms and put their packed their stuff inside it, one by one. No one bat an eye when most of the students were dropped off by their parents and a teary goodbye was said, but then a yellow haired skeleton arrived at the front steps of the dorms to drop off a tall white haired and sassy teen and a small shy girl who could only be described as a bunny.

Walking in, there were several students in the Common Room. Lay and Doon were playing Smash Brothers on the tv, Jujine and Yuna were at the counter, and Pentei, Tensei, and To were all talking to each other on the couches while most of the rest of the class lounged around in the rest of the common room.

Yuna's plant-like eyes briefly scanned over the three of them before the switch flicked in her mind and she screamed, "Oh my goodness! Are you alright?!" Toshinori shot blood from his mouth.

_And now everyone is looking at us._

_Toshinori is literally a skeleton, you should already be used to getting attention like this._

Koto gave a despondent sigh as Yuna fretted over Toshi while the skeleton and Lacey tried to assure her that he was fine. Koto ushered Yuna over to him, "This living skeleton is our father, and while he looks like an actual undead creature from the depths of hell," Koto ignored Toshi's protests, "I can promise you that he is healthy. This," he pointed to the bag of bones, "is just a result of his quirk."

To called out from the back, "I know you just said he was your dad and all, but you guys look nothing like each other. Are you sure he didn't just kidnap you?" He immediately got a swift chop to the back of his head as courtesy of Tensei who ranted to him about how he can't just say things like that and all that stuff.

Doon decided it was his opportunity for an introduction and paused the game (not like it mattered, he was gonna win anyways). He walked over to the four of them and stuck out his hand, "It's nice to meet you, it's always exciting to meet up with another electric quirk user."

Toshi shook Doon's hand, "I know you must be excited but I don't have an electric quirk, and no, I'm not their biological father. I'm sure they said something already but I adopted these two when they were nine." He began laughing, "I'm sure you don't think someone as unhealthy looking as me can take care of two kids and you would be right. I remember all the shenanigans these two-"

"He made us throw up on our first night there with his terrible cooking," Koto said bluntly.

Almost everyone present in the common room burst into laughter while Toshi tried to defend his cooking skills. Lacey shivered, she still remembered that traumatic night.

Time passed and more students came down from their rooms, joining the lively common room. Koto looked over the bustling scene. Toshi was grumbling in the corner while Lacey and Opo tried to console him, a bunch of the guys formed a literal queue while they took turns trying to beat Quin in an arm wrestling contest (no one ever did), and most of the girls were on the couch talking to each other in their excitement to finally be in UA. Koto sighed, maybe things would be alright here. Maybe everything would work out in the end.

_You're going to have to forgive yourself eventually, Koto,_ Xatl said sadly.

Koto didn't respond, a wave of regret washing over him. He tried to hide it as best he could, but it obviously wasn't enough to fool everyone since Pentei walked over to him.

"I know that look," he began, "that's the look you get when your about to go into one of your moods." Koto looked away. Pentei smiled defeatedly, "C'mon, whatever it is your thinking about, try to put it out of your mind, at least for now." He gestured to the room, "I mean, we finally made it Koto! We're in UA! Now it's time to celebrate, so let's just have some fun tonight, alright?"

Koto sighed before a smile forced its way onto his face, "You're annoyingly hard to ignore, you know that? Alright, I guess I'll have some fun."

"There we go! And whatever is putting you in so much pain, you'll have me and Lacey to help you through it. But for now, let's only think of right now. Nothing in the past, nothing in the future, only tonight, and everything we're going to do with our classmates!

For the rest of the day, Koto talked to his classmates on the couch, joined in on the arm wrestling tournament that just kind of sprung up out of nowhere (Quin still won), and practically beat down on Kinto with his full powered glare. Eventually, the class separated into smaller groups of friends or left the common room to finish packing up. Tensei, Pentei, Lacey, and Koto were all chatting idly about nearly any random topic, from Pentei's hair and it's weird color scheme to how they like their classmates. The conversation quickly derailed with one of Koto's sarcastic comments and Tensei's attempt at reprimanding him. It was an attempt because Koto just said something else sarcastic. It ended up with Koto being tackled to the floor while Tensei, red in the face, shouted about how to properly talk to other people.

It was a great time.

Lay Loon looked around the room, noticing how everyone had already made their own little groups, except for him and the recommendation girl who drew All Might to life. He shook his head, still unable to believe there was a quirk that powerful out there, but back to the task at hand. School will suck if he doesn't get some friends. Looking back at the different groups, he pointed at each one.

"Eeny..." Lay points to a group of girls, "Meeny..." he points towards To, Quin, and Ainjiro, "Miny…" Lay points towards Koto's group and sees the awkward guy shouting his lungs out at Koto, "That one looks fun."

Lay casually strides over to where Pentei had practically ripped Tensei off Koto, "What's goin on guys? You mind if I join… whatever is going on here?"

Koto would have loved to make one more sarcastic joke just to see Tensei's reaction but he was laughing too hard, so the job of talking to the newcomer fell to Lacey.

"N-No, we don't mind at all, but let m-me warn you, this…" Lacey gestures towards Pentei, Koto, and Tensei, who all look at her like deer caught in headlights, "Is a normal thing."

"You say that like you don't love us."

"Shut up Koto!" Lacey gives a defeated sigh, "A-anyway, the person trying to stop a f-fight right now is Pentei Power."

"What's up man?" Pentei asks excitedly.

"What's up? I'll tell you what's up, we're in f**king UA!" Lay shouts in response, getting a _yeah!_ in return.

Lacey flinched slightly at the volume, "The person who takes reprimanding a little too seriously," she glares playfully at Tensei, who shimmies uncomfortably in place, "Is Tensei Tensei, no I didn't stutter, that's his name."

Lay could already tell he was the angry mom of the group, "Nice to meet you, oh wise one."

"I like this one," Koto unhelpfully adds.

Tensei looks ready to shout before Lay says, "I'm just joking, sorry, but I like to tease people a bit." Tensei looked appeased.

One more sigh, and all will gone from her voice, "And the last one is my brother Koto, he's too snarky for his own g-good."

"Yo."

"Yo."

"...Oh god there's two of them."

Somehow, the students and some of the remaining parents all get conned into watching a movie (family friendly movie, thank god) on the common room couch. Toshi has no idea how this happened, but he is now stuffed between Lacey and another female student. The plantlike girl who was worried about him when he first entered. His adoptive kids sit next to him, Lacey against him and Koto against her. He silently chuckles. Koto's arm is around Lacey's shoulder in a cliche couple position, Lacey's face is as red as a tomato and Koto is none the wiser. He truly does not see the utter adoration and love Lacey obviously feels for Koto. Toshi wonders how long it will be until Koto finally realizes.

He looks around him and for the last time in a long while, he feels truly at peace.

* * *

Toshi couldn't believe it, after all the years of knowing Koto and Lacey and having raised them himself, they were finally being sent off to UA. Sure, he would see them since he was a part of the staff, but that small house wouldn't be the same without them. Walking down the front steps to the dorms, with Koto and Lacey's walking beside him, he just couldn't believe it. He clenched his fists. They were going to be amazing heroes, he would make sure of it.

Toshi heard a snap in front of his face and looked downwards to his two children, "Toshi, you okay?" Lacey looked worried but Koto looked happy, but a sad happy, "You spaced out for a bit. We were just talking about whether they agreed to let us share our room like we asked."

Toshi shook himself from his stupor and responded happily, "Of course they will… at least I think they will." Koto facepalmed and Lacey giggled for the first time since they left the house.

"You know… It's nice to still be talking like this. Even though we're about to live in UA, it still makes it feel like nothing is changing, like everything is still the same," small tears pricked at the edges of her eyes before Lacey charged into Toshi, gripping him in a tight hug, with Toshi hugging her just as tightly. He didn't care that she was putting too much pressure on his injury, she needed to be comforted… but he needed it more.

"Thank you for everything you've done for us… Dad."

Toshi froze. They never really called him Dad since they always enjoyed to call him by his nickname more. The two names always meant the same thing, but to hear Lacey call him her father, it felt right. The tears he was trying to hold back broke forth like an overflowing dam, the two children he loved more than anything else in the world in his arms.

Koto gave a reminiscent sigh as he pulled the two into his arms, turning the goodbye hug, into a family hug, and one to remember for the rest of their lives.

The family stayed still on the front steps of the Height's Alliance, unwilling to budge an inch. Other students and parents passed them on their way in. Some gave them sideways glances and others stared at them with a happy look on their face before moving on. Regardless, it was nice that no one tried to break them up.

Reluctantly, the hug ended, and Toshi began his walk back. Even though he would see the, pretty much every week, it still hurt knowing he wouldn't see them and their antics every day. His small quaint house would feel too big, too empty, but he could fill the emptiness with their memories, and that's enough for him. Toshi turns around one last time to see Lacey wailing as she waves goodbye to him and Koto smirking and giving a far lazier wave. They both froze, "WE HAVEN'T UNPACKED YET!" They scream as they rush back into the dorms.

Toshi smirks. They'll be great heroes and better people.

* * *

_**BIG OL' SKIP where they unpack and decorate their rooms because I can't write detailed unique descriptions of each student's rooms**_

* * *

Finally, the parade around the dorms is done, and every student dorm has been seen, except for one.

Arriving in the middle of the third floor, an oddly spaced door sits by itself in the middle of the hallway, bridging the gap between the boy and girl dormitories. No one says anything, most of the teens just curious about the weird door, until Koto nudges Lacey forward gently.

"O-Oh! Right! Umm…" Lacey was nervous, everyone was looking right at her, but Koto laid his hand on her shoulder reassuringly, she could do this! "T-This is our room!"

"You're saying you live in the same room? Isn't that inappropriate?" To asked before he got a solid chop to the back of his neck _again_ courtesy of Tensei.

Ann took control of the conversation, "More importantly, is that allowed?"

"Y-Yes it's allowed since all we needed to do for it was get p-permission from our d-dad," Lacey answered nervously.

"Yeah, we've been sleeping in the same room since we were seven..." Koto looks over at Lacey, "Right?" Lacey nods. "Anyways, that's actually how we met. I got into a fight in my original orphanage because some prick was bullying one of my friends. I broke his nose and arm so they sent me to Lacey's orphanage and I ended up in the same room as her." The class paled at the thought that their classmate brutally beat another kid even as little as a seven year old. Kinto looked worried the most. "Anyways, we slept in that same room for so long that when we were both adopted, it felt wrong to sleep apart from each other, so why stop now?"

The hallway was silent. While it wasn't uncommon for brothers and sisters to share a room, normally they would split into different rooms whenever they're given the chance. But not these two, which might mean…

Jujinne was shaking with poorly controlled excitement, "mmmmmMMMMMM Even now, when you guys can separate from each other, you don't! That means you're in love!" The class behind her sweatdropped at the display of the apparent love maniac taking the reins of the entire trip. Lacey sputtered and face went fully red as she frantically tried to deny Jujinne's bold claim. It was adorable.

"Wow man, not even the second week and you already got yourself a girl, you work fast," Doon commented. Lacey shrieked indignantly and comically collapsed, steam coming from her ears. Her mind couldn't handle the embarrassment any longer. The class burst into laughter and Pentei tore his eyes from the hilarious scene Lacey was making to Koto who stared at the girl with a soft smile and adoring eyes. Whether the adoration was for his adopted little sister or his love interest, only time would tell, but Pentei would do everything in his power to get these two together.

"Wait…" Everyone already knew whatever To said would be completely idiotic. Even after only one week, they knew he didn't say all the smartest things in the world. "If you guys are brother and sister, isn't that incest?"

Everyone stared at the genuinely confused idiot before a white gauntlet crashed into him at high speeds and all chaos broke loose.

* * *

Walking into the room with an unconscious To thrown over Quin's shoulder and an unconscious and very red-faced Lacey thrown over Koto's shoulder, the class was introduced to green walls with a white pattern on the background. On Koto's half of the room lay a collection of small gadgets and stereotypical boy things like All Might action figures and small handheld gaming consoles. The class collectively turned like some poor imitation of bobbleheads towards a sea of bean bag chairs and soft and fluffy giant stuffed animals that looked squeezed to death. In the middle towards the back wall was two twin beds that lay suspiciously close together, where someone a little dumber could definitely suggest something stupid.

Everyone was glad To was knocked out.

Koto carried Lacey over to a giant stuffed tiger and lay her down on top of it. She unconsciously wrapped her arms around it and squeezed it in a bear hug that could probably pop skulls. The class sweatdropped again. Such a small and unassuming girl could probably kill most of them in a simple hug.

Koto sighs fondly, "Sorry, she does that when she's nervous." The class collectively gulped, if she could pop skulls when she's nervous, they didn't want to know what she could do when she was angry. "Anyway, this is our room, we got the beds in the middle, my room on that side and Lacey's mosh pit of animals on this side. Any questions?"

Yuna stuck her hand up from the crowd, "What are the patterns on the wall supposed to be?" The plant girl asked.

"That was Lacey's idea. She thought it would look cool if we painted the walls in our favorite colors and painted my electricity and her bubbles over it. And I gotta say, I think she was right."

_I one hundred percent guarantee you, it does not look-_

_It looks cool Xatl!_

Pentei walked over to Koto's game systems, "So you do play afterall, huh? And here I thought you were always too busy training to ever play a game with me."

Koto smirked, "So I like working out, sue me."

Pentei and Lay shared a look, they had the same idea. "Then you won't mind if we give all these ladies a peek, right?" They rushed Koto from both sides, he had no escape. At least until Koto spawned two gauntlets and picked them both up by their collars.

"That would've been really funny if you could actually do it, so nice on that. But I actually don't mind since I normally sleep shirtless, so I don't really care who sees me without a shirt." Koto lifted his arms to his shirt and casually took it off and threw it into a small hamper in the corner of the room. Every single girl in the room immediately burst into blushes and stutters while every guy except Pentei and Tensei (who've gotten way too used to seeing Koto half naked) paled at the sight of Koto's absolutely ripped torso.

Koto's arms were the definition of muscular, his biceps bulging with unused power. His back glistened as the light reflected oddly against Koto's muscles, but the main show was his pectorals and abs. They displayed themselves proudly off Koto's bare front, clearly defined and rivalling the size of All Might's own (if he was Koto's size).

"Jeez you could grate cheese off those things!" Jujinne shouted excitedly through her furious blush.

Even Quin, the physically strongest in their class was astonished at the sheer muscle mass his smaller classmate was holding. It was then that Lacey decided it was time to wake up from her strangle session with her tiger. She took one look at the scene of a shirtless Koto and the gaping class before breaking into a giant blush.

"I'm so sorry you had to see that!" The small girl shouted, "When I get anxious, the best way I have to deal with it is to cuddle with something big and soft but you weren't supposed to see that, I'm so sorry!" She explained in a panic.

The entire class collapsed cartoonishly, _She gets flustered by everything, but seeing the most ripped guy besides probably only All Might doesn't get her to blush?! HOW!_

After that amazing display of pure muscle, the class said their goodnight to one another and went to sleep. After all, tomorrow the journey to becoming heroes truly began.

* * *

_**Omake: **_Being introduced to a blood-spewing Toshi.

It had been two months since Naomasa got the text from All Might. The text that told Naomasa that it was finally over, they had won. But subsequent texts had proven that while they had won, it had come at a cost. Toshi was severely injured, losing half a lung and an entire stomach, and his time as a hero had dwindled to a measly four hours a day and would likely decrease as time continued, until he finally died sometime in the next ten years.

They would tell the two ten year olds about his injury so they never handled him too roughly, but they would hide the fact that Toshinori's death was to come in the next decade. It was better that they didn't know, not yet at least.

Today was the day he would finally be allowed to leave the hospital, granted he needed to be watched and checked on almost daily by Recovery Girl, but he was finally allowed to see his kids. Walking very slowly up to his front door with his crutches, Recovery Girl at his side, Toshi opened the door before having a high velocity ball of green nearly barrell straight into him. That definitely would've hurt but Naomasa stopped the wailing Lacey from probably putting her father back in the hospital. Koto stood by Naomasa's side, clearly upset and expecting an answer to his extended absence.

Toshinori sighed, he still couldn't speak without coughing up blood every other word, so he would let Recovery Girl handle the explanation.

Recovery Girl cleared her throat, "Your father was called in for a raid two and a half months ago on a high level villain base housing one of the most dangerous villains in the world. And before you ask, no I won't tell you who, it's confidential. Anyway, your father and this villain fought at the end of the raid, and while the villain was defeated," _hopefully killed, _Recovery Girl thought, "Your father suffered irreparable damage to his left lung and stomach." Lacey's wails only grew louder and Koto's angry expression morphed into one of shock, despair, and genuine fear for Toshi. "He's been in the hospital for the past two months undergoing extensive treatment by me and much of the hero hospital staff," she bowed, "Please understand that we were barely able to save his life, so please be careful with him for the next year at the least. And finally, it will be a common occurrence for him to spit or cough up blood from now on, so if he does, do not be alarmed, it will not negatively affect his health."

Koto scowled at Recovery Girl before peeling Lacey off Naomasa's now drenched trench coat, taking her to their room upstairs.

That could've gone worse, "Naomasa supplied.

"But it could've gone be-" Toshi coughed up blood, "B-better if it were from me."

Toshi didn't like to look in Koto's eyes. His eyes clearly told Toshi that he was upset, angry, _murderous_. Towards who, he didn't know, but if he had to guess, it would probably be either the now late All for One for injuring him, or himself for even going in the first place.

He would die, but before he did, Toshi would live his last years with his kids, preparing them for the future. A better future.

* * *

**Notes:**

IM NOT DEAD, AND NEITHER IS THIS STORY!

Sorry for taking this long to write this chapter but:

1) I've been busy with school and AP's because they suck

2) I've been working on college submissions and other stuff like that

3) I'm just a lazy pile of crap!

REGARDLESS, Tell me what you thought of the chapter. I tried to make this one way more fluff than anything action or plot driven so here it is! Leave a review to let me know what you think I did great and what you think I could do better!

Thanks again!

-**RandomA99**


	11. A Glance of What's to Come

Lightning Knight

Chapter 11: A Glance of What's to Come

* * *

Waking up in a different room than they were used to was a surreal experience. It was also an experience that led to an early morning panic before Koto helped Lacey calm down. The verdant green walls and white streaks surrounded them as they each went about getting prepared for their first real day at UA. Packing their materials, Koto and Lacey left their joint room, heading towards the common room.

Koto was always a night shower kind of person so he went to the kitchen while Lacey split off to take her early morning shower. It was just another thing that made them just that much more different. Tiredly swiping whatever drink he left in the community fridge from last night, he poured it into a mug and started sipping it, relishing in the… Koto checks the drink carton… pineapple-y flavor.

_Actually, now that I think about it, we're probably as different as people can get, _Koto thought.

_You're just realizing that now?_

That was one thing Koto hated about mornings. Xatl never just shut up to let him wake up. Groaning, Koto chugged the last of his pineapple juice and put his now empty mug in the sink. He'll clean it after school. A hand plops itself on Koto's shoulder and he instinctively grips it tightly and puts the offending person in a tight armhold.

"Alright! Alright! I give! I won't sneak up on you again! I swear!" Lay's arm was starting to hurt. He looked Koto in the eyes, ready to give him the strongest puppy eyes this world has ever seen before he realized that Koto's eyelids were drooping… he was still half-asleep and he was putting him in a terrifying armhold.

Thankfully, Tensei came to his rescue by giving a swift chop to the back of Koto's neck. Koto recoiled in pain and let go of Lay's arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" Koto asked.

"You were about to break his arm," Tensei continued past him and grabbed some eggs from the fridge.

Turning around, Koto could see that Tensei was right, Lay was on the ground whining about his arm. Koto just stared as his new friend struggled.

"Eh, he'll be alright," Koto walked away to get ready for class.

* * *

All twenty students were sitting in their seats, waiting for their first Foundational Hero Studies class to begin. UA supposedly had a new teacher this year and everyone wanted to know who it was. Looking around the room, Koto saw most students had a face of excitement with and handful of them being nervous or indifferent.

After five minutes, he heard a familiar voice, "_I am comING THROUGH _the door LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!" Koto started chuckling while the rest of his class started to freak out. Of course Toshi would find some way to stay with them even after they left. But he did have to say, he wouldn't mind the living skeleton teaching them.

"Welcome to hero foundationals! The bread and butter of the hero course! This class will define the hero you become and it will be tight by me, All Might!" Toshi flexed comically and while it looked really cool to the rest of the class, Koto and Lacey were struggling to try and not burst into full blown laughter. Toshi flipped a small white card, and showed the word BATTLE. "For your first Foundational Hero Studies class, you'll be engaging in a battle, but what kind of heroes would you be without these!" All Might pointed towards the left wall where two rows of metallic cases popped out, "These are your hero costumes, find the one with your seat number on it, get changed, and meet me at field gamma in ten minutes!" Just like that, All Might charged out of the room. Koto walked up towards his suitcase, grabbed the number eleven suitcase and started his walk towards the locker rooms.

Waiting outside, All Might started to see the first students trickle out in their brand new hero costumes. The first to show were Koto, Lacey, Pentei, and Konata strangely enough.

_It would make sense for three to show up first since they've been doing this for years, but why would Konata come out only after them?_

Shoving that thought to the back of his mind, he prepared himself to make his speech. He had read it ten times over and was sure he could do it! The rest of the class arrived and looking between all the students, he immediately realized he forgot the entire speech in his nervousness.

Koto looked towards his friends and sister, genuinely surprised. They all kept their costume designs secret from one another so it would be a big surprise when they finally showed each other, but Koto certainly hadn't been expecting certain designs.

Tensei's hero costume was comprised of a yellow, form fitting, streamlined suit that had several white striped leading down the sides. His hair was brushed and gelled in the form of a swirl and on his face was some sort of strange looking monocle. It looked a little strange, but Koto could appreciate Tensei's choice of costume, 6/10.

Pentei's hero costume was made of a red and orange open jacket and obsidian colored combat pants and boots. The jacket was jagged, probably trying to mirror the obisidian's rough texture, and the color scheme largely resembled the lava Pentei would pull from the ground. Underneath his open jacket was a cheesy shirt that read, _I rock! _The pants and boots were military grade and gave the perfect balance between defensive capability and mobility. On Pentei's face was a red and orange metal mask in the shape of a jagged infinity symbol. It ended up being very aesthetically pleasing and held a lot of benefits that went along with Pentei's theme of a scalding hot brawler, 8/10.

Koto's own outfit was strangely similar to Pentei's own, but still held some very notable differences. Koto's costume was comprised of an open long sleeve jacket, combat pants and boots and pants, and a pair of fingerless gloves, all of which were snow white. There was no shirt underneath his jacket and his clearly toned and defined muscles were on display. The combat pants and boots were chosen for similar reasons as Pentei's being a near perfect mix of defensive capability and mobility. The fingerless gloves were a last minute addition that Koto thought would be really cool. Koto's hair was still in its messy, spiky form and nothing else was really changed. It was simple but effective, 9/10.

_Did you really give yourself the best rating? Shallow. _Xatl cut in.

_Shut it, my costume looks great! _Koto defended his choice of costume.

_If I were to say, it would be a 7/10._

Koto grumbled silently to himself and looked over Lacey's costume. Her costume was easily the best out of the class. She wore a tight green bodysuit decorated with little white bubbles all over. Her green boots were military grade but failed to detract from the overall aesthetic. Over her face from her eyes to her nose was a green visor that displayed whatever she wanted from a list of options. Her's or other's medical readings including heart rate and potential injuries, mission objectives, a measuring device, communications and who she was talking to, and a couple others. The device was very complicated but infinitely useful for those little details most people would overlook. Her brown hair was hidden under a pair of headphones that shot up and back from her head in two towers, and she had a small pocket on her side for a _very_ durable mp3 player. Her costume preserved her petite stature and made her look too much like a fluffy bunny. But it wouldn't be complete without a final addition. Koto pulled out the small ball of fluff he had been saving for this exact moment and quickly attached it to her costume when she wasn't looking. With her tail attached, Lacey was one hundred percent a fluffy bunny.

_She's too pure, 10/10._

_You're an idiot… 10/10._

Koto noticed the little gauntlets she had attached to her forearms, wondering what they did. But before he could ask, All Might finally cut in to start their lesson.

"Alright zygotes! They say the costume makes the hero and you all have incredible costumes!" All Might praised the class. "Now, for our first lesson, we will be conducting two on two mock battles with random teams!" The class nodded along to the lesson plans. All Might stopped talking and everyone stared at him. He started sweating nervously before trying to (key word: trying) discreetly reach into his back pocket and pull out a notecard. He then started talking as he glanced repeatedly at the notecard, "The situation is as so: Two villains have a wmd that will detonate after fifteen minutes and have bunkered down in one of the many location sites. Two heroes will be chosen to go in and fight the villains and retrieve the weapon before time runs out. If the heroes capture the villains or touch the weapon, they win. If the villains capture the heroes or time runs out, they win. To capture an opponent, we will be using this capture tape! Just wrap it around any part of your opponent and they will be considered eliminated from the battle!"

The class sweatdropped as the frankly pathetic display of blatant forgetfulness of the number one hero.

"Now as I said before, the teams will be chosen at random so each of you pick from the boxes and find your teammate!"

After a quick choosing, the teams ended up as such

Team A: Koto Yagi and Lay Loon

Team B: Doon Welta and Mila Puna

Team C: Diin Daen and Ainjiro Wogata

Team D: Kinto Einorquiro and To Ominero

Team E: Ann Front and Jujinned Den

Team F: Lacey Yagi and Quin Wogata

Team G: Tina Pola and Opo Sing

Team H: Yuna Blossom and Mono Mopo

Team I: Pentei Power and Tensei Tensei

Team J: Konata Tori and Chino Enn

"Have you all found your partners?" All Might asked. The class responded with nods and a couples yes's. "Alright, now let's choose the first round!" All Might shoved his hand in the black box before pulling out two balls with the letters F and D on them respectively. "For the first round, Team F will be the heroes and Team D will be the villains!" Lacey looked like she would pass out from sheer anxiety, Koto gave her a little head pat to try and calm her down. She looked back at him thankfully. "The villain team will have a five minute grace period to set up and hide the weapon, so chop chop you two." Getting the memo, Kinto and To charged off towards the test building.

Koto frowned. He wasn't exactly pleased that Lacey was fighting the bastard that hit on her, but maybe she could use this to show how much of a badass she is under all that anxiety.

The class walked back into the school and into a monitoring room that showed almost every spot inside and outside the building. They saw Kinto bark orders to To who was happily following them without thinking anything of, being the idiot that he was. They ended up hiding the bomb on the third floor out of five, not too close to the top or the bottom since the heroes could enter from either side with Lacey's bubbles. Looking to the left most screen, Koto could see Lacey and Quin talking, but without any audio, couldn't hear what they were saying.

* * *

"How strong are your bubbles?" Quin asked bluntly.

Lacey sputtered, not expecting the question, "W-well, I can use them to shoot us off like a projectile but they can't take a lot of damage or they'll pop."

"Hmm, alright, here's what we'll do," Quin started speaking softly. Lacey listened intensely, or at least as intensely as an anxiety driven person can, "You'll start out by using your bubbles to scout yourself around the building and try and see if you can find where they are. If you can see them, radio it to me and I'll head in and you'll go from the roof. If you can't, I'll wait for you down here and we'll head in together," Quin looked over to the short girl, "Does that sound good to you?" Lacey nodded her head and gave a quiet sigh of relief, she expected the goliath of a man to be very intimidating and commanding, but he's actually very soft spoken and reassuring.

_I'll call him gentle giant! _She decided.

"**Start!"** All Might's voice boomed throughout the test building.

Lacey wasted no time in launching herself off a bubble to the top floor, searching through each window before emitting a new bubble and hopping to the next. It took three minutes until lacey finally spotted the team on the third floor.

"_They're on the third floor on the west side in what looks like the second room from the north side. The room looks completely frozen over and I don't see To anywhere. He might be patrolling the floors for us,_"Lacey radioed.

"_Got it,_" came Quin's quick response.

Lacey launched herself onto the roof and went in through the roof access door. She quickly found the staircase and walked down to the third floor, where she heard sounds of a fight. Coming around the corner, she could see To flinging flaming ice towards Quin who couldn't make it past his ice barrage with his large stature. To hadn't noticed lacey approach from behind and he was quickly wrapped in capture tape.

"**To Ominero had been captured!**"

Giving a quick nod to Quin, they both left for the room with the weapon. The door was covered in ice but nothing could really stand up to Quin's incredible strength and the ice door was quickly shattered like it was a toothpick. Ignoring the brief feeling of intimidation that washed over her, Lacey head inside the room before narrowly avoiding a jagged piece of ice that was flung towards her. Looking over the room, she saw Kinto standing on the opposite side, with a massive pile of small icicles stacked behind him.

Dodging another three icicle shots, Lacey went back out the door. "He has ammunition, and a lot of it. I can put him to sleep, I just need something to distract him."

Quin looked over to her, "I can distract him, but not for too long. My costume can only take so much damage before it starts to give out."

Quin's costume was made of darker colors and had what looked like a falling meteor imprinted on the front of it. He also had some smaller shield like armor on his forearms and shins. Lacey looked over to him, "Alright, I'll try and make it as quick as I can."

They nodded to each other and charged in, Quin taking the front and blocking as much as he could with his shields while Lacey darted behind on the of the support pillars in the room. Unfortunately, everything was covered in ice and Quin was gradually being slid back by the unending assault of icicles. Lacey tried to form a bubble surrounding Kinto but an icicle quickly popped it.

This wasn't good, if she couldn't knock Kinto out, they would be forced to retreat and time would run out. Thinking quickly, Lacey looked over everything she knew about Kinto.

_Okay, he's a creep, I don't like him, and his quirk can attract anything within thirty meters towards him or if its heavier than him, him to it._

It wasn't a lot of information, but it was enough to form a plan. Everything he attracted or was attracted towards always followed a straight path, meaning he can't curve after he's started his attraction. Lacey groaned, this was gonna drain her, but she had to do it or they would lose. Straining her quirk, Lacey formed hundreds of bubbles in the small room, leaving small gaps between each one. He couldn't pop all of them without repositioning himself and with all the bubbles in the way, he wouldn't be able to see her as she poked out from behind the frozen pillar, took aim with her gauntlet, and fired.

A small bubble shot quickly from her gauntlet and hit Kinto's abdomen, sending him doubling over with pain. Another shot to the head and he was on the ground. She quickly spawned one final bubble surrounding Kinto before he could recover and played one of her favorite lullabies on her mp3. The pink bubble started to glow faintly as Kinto's eyes began to droop before he was completely asleep. Lacey removed all the bubbles and wrapped Kinto in capture tape. She was too tired to cheer for her victory.

They went back to the monitor room, carrying the sleeping Kinto over Quin's shoulder. the class swarmed them almost immediately, congratulating Lacey and Quin on their win and giving sympathy to To, who was too cold to care.

"Who can tell me who the MVP is and why?" All Might asked.

Tensei, Opo, and Yuna raised their hands and All Might chose Opo, "Lacey is the MVP because she was able to scout the location of the enemy team, and use her teammates distraction to capture To. When they were battling Kinto, she devised a plan which involved using Quin's defensive capabilities before subduing her opponent in a non physical manner. That's not to say Quin didn't have much of an effect on the match since Lacey's action wouldn't have been possible without a defense to stand behind. Lacey was the most effective at using everything she had at her disposable to her advantage."

"Y-yeah, that's correct! Ha Ha!" All Might tried to play it off and Lacey was beet red from the praise.

All Might coughed into his hand, "All right, let's start the next match! Team B against Team C!"

* * *

The rest of the matches went relatively smoothly. Doon and Mila ended up losing to Diin and Ainjiro because Diin's quirk is legitimately incredibly powerful. The small girl was able to shrug off every hit Mila threw at her and managed to set up her opponents into the bear that charged down the hallway and crashed into them. They were both knocked out by the 660 pound bear crashing into them, but they recovered fairly quickly, waking up in the monitor room. Diin got MVP.

Pentei and Tensei worked excellently as a team against Tina and Opo. Tensei was able to give away their location at all times and Pentei was able to block most of Tina's rockets. Tensei and Opo battled it out in a quirkless brawl and Tensei's martial arts knowledge ended up in Opo's defeat. Together, the two were able to systematically shut down the girl's explosive power. Tensei earned MVP.

Konata and Chino fought against Mono and Yuna in a very strange battle. Plants had completely overrun the entire building, turning every step into a dangerous trap filled with thorns. However, the problem was solved with the flamethrowers Konata drew into existence. When the two teams eventually met, there was only three minutes left. Chino charged forward against Mono before getting knocked out in a single blow by an incredibly powerful punch. Shifting your weight might not seem like much, but it can give a regular punch the force of a semi-truck. Yuna was forced to surrender under the threat of catching fire and Mono fought hard against Konata but was eventually beaten by a paper sword. Konata got MVP.

Finally it was Koto and Lay as the heroes against Ann and Jujinne. They were waiting outside the building waiting for their match to start.

* * *

"It's crazy that were on the same team, right Koto?" Lay said.

"Yeah, but we have to make sure we do those other matches justice and make sure we make this one real exciting!" After seeing what Ann could do, Koto was really looking forward to fighting her, especially since she helped Lacey out in the entrance exam. "Alright, how long are the chains you use?"

"About 15 meters each and I can still use my limbs after I shoot them out." Lay responded.

"Alright, here's the plan. I don't know the exact strength of Jujinne's **Blowout** so we'll have to work around it. Start the match by scouting the building with your chains and I'll enter from the bottom. From there, if they're separated, I'll lock one of them in with my gauntlets and we'll double team the second person. If they're together, I'll focus on Ann and you'll have to handle Jujinne. If you can't we'll switch. Sound like a plan?"

"It's better than anything I can come up with so let's do it!"

"**Start!**"

Koto charged in and Lay shot his chains towards a window ledge on the fourth floor, reeling himself in. Koto wouldn't expect anyone to be on the first floor and dashed right for the stairs. However, the stairs were gone and only rubble remained.

_Alright, this can serve as a little warm-up._

Koto jumped and spawned a gauntlet. Making the gauntlet lay flat in the air with its palm up, Koto landed on his and gave himself a boost upwards, the gauntlet throwing him to the wall. Koto kicked off the wall and landed on the second floor. He chuckled. He could practically hear the hype from the monitor room in his building.

Heading into the second floor, he heard Lay over his comm, "_The weapon is on the third floor but I don't see Ann anywhere. She's probably on one of the lower floors. They also destroyed the roof access door, so I'm gonna go through the front door._"

Koto listened to his surroundings, spawning two gauntlets pre-emptively. The hallway was silent, no sound coming from anywhere, until a crash was heard coming from the first floor.

"_What the hell?! The entire front entrance collapsed! I can't get in!_" Welp, it looked like he would be doing this on his own.

Koto carefully tread the second floor hallway, listening for any indication of a person. He heard nothing and walked around the corner. He had to make his way towards the next staircase so he could retrieve the bomb, but he had a feeling that would be where they waited for him. But there wasn't any other way he could ascend the building, so he begrudgingly stepped into the stairway. Surprisingly, the stairs were intact, but something still felt off. He cautiously walked up the first flight and turned to take the next. Ann was waiting at the top of the small set of stairs, smiling as the blue marks on her knuckles glowed faintly. Looking at the stairs, he saw the same blue marks glowing. He jumped and used his two gauntlets to toss himself to the next floor just as the stairs collapsed from the combined force of what could be more than one hundred powerful punches.

Just as he was about to land, he spawned three gauntlets and grabbed Ann's arms and forced her out of the stairway, giving up on getting a safe landing. He didn't land gracefully to say the least.

Koto charged into the hallway, spotted Ann and twenty gauntlets, creating a wall of solid electricity. He blocked off her access to him and charged down the other end.

"Alright Lay, you have to help me here, what room is the weapon in?" Koto asked quickly.

"_Oh, it's uhhhh…_" Koto could hear the sound of unraveling chain through the comm, "_There it is! Alright, it should be around the corner, the door on your right!" _

"Thanks Lay!" Koto focused, he would be going against two opponents, with strength he didn't know about. Turning the corner, he met both his opponents, Ann and Jujinne, standing side by side, blocking his route to the door.

"Y'know Koto, you've really impressed me!" Ann talked nonchalantly, "Not everyone could save themselves from a collapsing building."

Koto winced as an old memory played in his head, but shook it off and spawned another twenty gauntlets. He needed a plan, he couldn't just charge in blindly. He could send eight at each opponent and keep four as a rear guard in case they managed to break through. No that would leave him open to projectiles if they had any. But it was the best plan he had and he was running out of time.

Ann decided she wouldn't wait any longer and charged at him. He sent eight gauntlets at each of his opponents before he noticed blue marks on Jujinne's abdomen glow. It looked like she took a couple hits before a powerful wind- no, a powerful _hurricane_ blew all his gauntlets back at him, sending him and his weapons flying into the wall on the other end. All that wind from a couple punches? This would be a much harder fight than he thought. Ann had used the wind to launch herself at the disoriented opponent and slammed her fist into his bare skin under his open jacket, before crying out in pain as she punched what felt like metal. She looked up to see armor encompassing Koto.

"What! You can make armor too?!" Ann took a hook to the jaw and stumbled away from her opponent.

Koto looked down and grumbled in frustration. Already she had placed a mark on him. The fight only kept getting more challenging. He pressed his advantage, sweeping Ann's legs and spawning four gauntlets to hold each of her limbs and a fifth to hold her neck down before slamming his fist into her abdomen. Spittle flew from her mouth as her breath left her. Koto would have pulled out the capture tape but another hurricane slammed into him, but he was far more prepared for the force this time, keeping his footing in the current. Ann used this opportunity to get her breath back and wrench herself from his gauntlet's weakened grips.

Koto recovered from the wind and looked up to see both opponents back in their original positions. He had made no progress.

To win this fight, he couldn't handle them two on one. Koto spawned some gauntlets and threw them towards Jujinne and charged towards Ann. Jujinne tried to blow all of the gauntlets away but one managed to get through, gripped her arm and dragged her down the hallway and around the corner. That should buy him some time. Turning his attention back to Ann, he spawned five gauntlets, sending them to attack while he approached. She blocked the first three and punched through the fourth, but she had failed to notice the fifth gauntlet that got a shot in on her back.

_I got a chance!_ Koto thought as he doubled his efforts and closed the distance between the two, sending an electrically charged punch at Ann. She raised her forearms to block to punch, which worked (mostly), but Koto had already planned for her block and slammed gauntlets into both her sides. Ann cried out before she took another punch to the chest, sending her sprawling backwards.

She got back on her feet as Koto charged in, transferring his momentum into a roundhouse kick followed quickly by a quick kick that gained some distance between the two. Ann saw his strategy clear as day. Outrange her and don't let her get a hit in. He was wary of her quirk, and he had every right to be. In a fight, it was incredibly powerful. Too bad, his strategy had already failed before it even began. Ann closed the distance, seeing Koto tense up to avoid whatever attack she had, but she activated her quirk and the marking on his armor glowed before he felt the force of five of her punches hit him at once. He lost all sense of wariness as he tried to recover from the undetected blow. Ann closed the gap and delivered a quick punch to his left shoulder and right hip, two very important balance points that would leave an opponent open if disturbed, each punch leaving their own markings.

Koto tried to retaliate with a right jab but the mark on his right hip activated, throwing his punch off and Ann scored two more quick hits on him. He tried again, only to meet the same result again and again. Every counter he sent her way was redirected and exploited, but at this point he was already in an incredible disadvantage, her marking littering his chest. It didn't help that each marking could be used five times before it went away so he never knew which attack he would feel again. Koto dashed back and spawned gauntlets to cover his retreat. Ann punched one of his gauntlets, marking it before sending it flying back at Koto. He dissipated the gauntlet before it could hit him but by then Ann had once again closed the gap.

It was clear the fight was a battle of pure raw strength. Any tactics the two had could either be redirected or completely useless, which left the deciding factor to pure strength. Koto was hoping to save some energy for after class, but clearly he would have to go all out to win this one.

He charged every muscle in his body and spawned a hundred gauntlets, charging in all at once, preparing a powerful right hook. Ann couldn't possible block every one and himself all at once.

This would be the final blow between the two.

Ann seemed to come to the same realization, sticking her thumb, pointer, and middle fingers out like a fake gun and called her final attack, "Final Shot!" as she clicked her thumb down. Every marking on Koto glowed all at once as his fist sunk into her cheek, a crack sounding out followed quickly by loud boom as Koto was blasted with pure force down the entire length of the hallway and through the outer wall of the building. He began to fall towards the ground when Lay swooped in and swung them back through the gaping hole made by Koto's own body.

"Jeez man, what turned you into a cannonball?" Lay joked.

Koto started to laugh before clutching at his chest in pain, _Yup, something's definitely broken._

_You didn't break anything, but you sure as hell cracked four ribs. That girl can pack a punch can't she._

_Not now Xatl, please._

Koto stood and saw Ann on the floor unconscious, the wall behind her showing some very noticeable cracks. "Come on, we're not done yet."

Lay looked surprised, "Wait what? You're still going, dude that sounded like the loudest gong in the world and I was outside the building. What kind of pain tolerance do you have?"

Memories of his past battles flashed through his mind quickly as he responded, "One made from a lot of experience."

Lay begrudgingly followed Koto, a little more than unnerved at Koto's cryptic response and they eventually came to Jujinne who was still struggling to remove the gauntlet had stuck on to her.

She looked at them and went wide-eyed, "Uhhh, truce?"

Lay let out a loud laugh, "Nah." He took out his roll of capture tape and wrapped it around Jujinne's trapped arm.

"**Team A wins!**" All Might's voice boomed over the mics in their comms, making each of them flinch slightly at the sudden loud noise.

Koto dissipated the gauntlet trapping Jujinne and started walking back to where Ann was. He only made it a few steps before he fell to one knee. It just hurt too much.

Lay looked at him, smirking like he just won an argument, "Yeah, I guess I was right, huh?" He walked up to Koto and offered an arm and a support to lean on which Koto readily took. "Hey Jujinne," the girl looked over to him, "Ann's out cold in the next hallway, do you think you could grab her for us?" She nodded happily and skipped her way around the corner.

"She's a happy one," Lay observed. They walked in silence back to the monitor room. "Do you think she's single?" Koto chuckled in response.

* * *

The group was immediately redirected to Recovery Girl's office for Koto and Ann's healing. Like Xatl had said, Koto had four cracked ribs and Ann apparently had a cracked jawbone stemming from a near broken cheekbone. Lacey showed up to tell him that Ann got MVP. Honestly, Koto thought she deserved it. After a quick kiss from Recovery Girl, Koto left the office in bandages and walked with Lacey to the classroom to get his stuff. He opened the door and was met with happy grins and excited looks.

The usual crew strolled up to them and started talking about how they thought they each did before pretty much the rest of the class jumped the conversation.

Tina spoke first, "Holy crap Koto! That last trade was crazy! It had me on the edge of my seat as the two titans of power crashed into one another, dealing powerful blows and sending one another down for the count."

While excitable theater girl was doing her theatrics, _Is she talking about Godzilla?_, Quin spoke up. "You have some serious power behind your punches, I would love to work out with you, if you like to do so."

Koto gave a quick, "Sure thing!" when Yuna cleared her voice and spoke, "Is Ann alright?" Opo nodded in agreement to the question.

"Yeah, she's alright, just a bit more hurt than I was, but with Recovery Girl, she'll be back in the dorms by the end of the day, so there's nothing serious to worry about." The two girls looked relieved at his answer and began to chat with one another.

Doon shot through the crowd, mock tears sliding down his face, "Why do you get to be so amazing?" he asked, comically shaking Koto back and forth.

"Simple, I'm just awesome," Koto smirked as Doon exploded in laughter.

The class eventually settled down and left for the dorms. Nothing else too exciting happened for the rest of the day, mostly just finishing homework for their other classes and before he knew it, it was time to go to sleep. He certainly felt tired, especially after Recovery Girl's quirk was used on him.

_It's good to know there's more than the usual crew to keep me on my toes, right Xatl?_

_Shut up and go to sleep._

_Love you too._

Lacey readjusted in her bed, her shuffling reaching Koto's ears as she tried to sleep. For most other people, this would be irritating, but for Koto, it was soothing, knowing something he held so important to him was right next to him.

Koto smirked again, Lacey still hasn't realized he pretty much turned her costume into a fluffy bunny.

* * *

**Notes:**

I LIIIIIVE (sidenote: college applications suck)

The hiatus should hopefully be over now since I have everything I need done (HALLE-FUCKING-LUJAH)

As I said before in the update chapter that is now no longer with us (sad boi hours), this chapter is being release alongside a one off story featuring the canon-cast of BNHA. It's much more "professional" since it actually has meanings behind it. It's crazy, I know.

Anyway, if you liked the chapter, tell me what you liked or what you think I can improve on. I would love to hear from you and I want to be able to write better.

Thanks for reading!

\- **RandomA99**


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